March 28, 2023 edition - The (turtle) battle for Mill Lake

Mar 28 | Today: ☀ High 13C, Low 2C | 7-day forecast

Good morning!

So we’re off on our membership adventure (ICYMI, read more about it). Most of the stuff you’ve come to expect will remain in your free newsletter (for now at least). But you’ll notice a little members-only section in the newsletter. This endeavour comes down to one simple thing: making the math work out. That, for example, is how the price was set.

I’d love to charge just a buck a month and we could do that if we knew that everyone who gets (or even just opens) the newsletter every day would pay that. But history has shown that’s not what happens. So like a small coffee shop that has to pay the rent and can’t sell coffee for a buck a cup, we gotta do what we gotta do.

We are a small-scale local publication and it’s what you probably like about us. But it means that we don’t have the economies of scale that massive national or international publications have. What we can do is just continue to deliver a product that no one else can (like, say, stories about the science of sun-tanning turtles). And the more people who join, the more we can do. Thanks for helping out. You can become a member here. (If you own a business or work for a local institution, get in touch about deals for multiple memberships.)

Thanks so much to our first members, including Andrea, Sarah, and Meagan!

NEWS

The (turtle) battle of Mill Lake

Two types of turtles call Mill Lake Park in Abbotsford home. One belongs there, and one does not.

The western painted turtle is BC’s only native freshwater turtle. Seven or eight of them live in the park, laying eggs and basking in the sunlight as the seasons turn.

For decades, their peaceful existence has been threatened by a faster-growing, distant cousin: the red-eared slider. Native to parts of the U.S. the turtle arrived in BC—and in Mill Lake’s quiet waters—by way of pet store tanks beginning in the 1960s. Many locals bought them as pets only to later release them into the wild, said Aimee Mitchell, the executive director of Coastal Partners in Conservation, an organization that has been studying Mill Lake’s turtles.

“We used to hear arguments that ‘Oh, they’ll all just die,’ But they won’t.”

Today, Grace writes about the western painted turtle’s recovery in Mill Lake Park, provincial turtle law, and the (sometimes unusual) effects of climate change on turtle sex.

Need to know

🚗 An Abbotsford man allegedly tried to flee on foot after being spotted in a stolen vehicle shortly after he was convicted of a previous theft [CTV]

🐔 Only in the Fraser Valley: A stretch of Highway 1 in Langley was closed when a chicken-carrying truck ground to a halt, requiring all the chickens to be transferred onto a new vehicle [CTV]

🐶 New rules will change what happens to a pet when its owners separate [BC Government]

🚓 A Mission school was briefly locked down after a threatening phone call Monday. [Mission Record]

🎨 A local Ukrainian artist is exhibiting her works at a Hope gallery [Hope Standard]

🏒 The Abbotsford Canucks clinched a playoff spot with an overtime loss [Canucks Army]

🤼‍♀️ An Abbotsford teen claimed gold at the Canadian Wrestling Championships [Abbotsford News]

👎 Thieves stole a Mission couple’s keys, passports and more last week [Global]

😃 We want to profile you! Be our first local of the day and tell us your favourite hidden gem [FVC]

😊 DAILY SMILE: Check out this stunning aerial footage of a recent helicopter flight over the Stave Lake flats [Facebook/Ralph van Woerden]

The Agenda

No ‘triple-density’ suites in Mission, council says

Mission won’t allow secondary suites on properties where there is both an existing house and a coach home or cottage.

Mission is creating new policies to govern where secondary suites will be allowed and council voted on a variety of rules pertaining to the issue Monday.

The possibility of secondary suites on properties that already have a secondary housing unit was one of several discussed.

Mayor Paul Horn said that allowing secondary suites in such areas could dramatically add density to rural areas where such housing levels are not desired by many residents.

“I do think that eventually you have to have boundaries,” Horn said, saying a cottage home plus a secondary suite could triple the density of several neighbourhoods. Couns. Danny Plecas, Carol Hamilton, Ken Herar, and Angel Elias agreed with him.

Coun. Mark Davies and Jag Gill said they would be in favour of suites on such properties, so long as there was adequate parking and services. Both pointed to the shortage of rental housing in Mission.

McKee Plan may get new revisions

Abbotsford’s McKee Peak Neighbourhood Plan won’t immediately return to council. Instead, staff will get a chance to take a crack at addressing the various comments raised by the public at a recent five-hour meeting.

The controversial plan would guide how thousands of homes would be built on the lower reaches of Sumas Mountain. You can read our in-depth story on the plan’s background here. After a five-hour public hearing earlier this month, council was set to vote on the plan on Monday. But last week, the city announced that earlier council readings of the plan would have to be rescinded because of a procedural error linked to the incorrect duplication of wording at the start of the council process.

On Monday, council said that submissions and statements at the last public hearing on the McKee Neighbourhood Plan would remain part of the public record, even though a new hearing would need to be held.

But the plan won’t return to council as is. Instead, staff will first look at whether adjustments to the plan are needed. Neither council nor staff identified particular issues at Monday’s meeting. But one topic up for consideration will be Sema:th First Nations’ statement that it wasn’t properly consulted during the plan’s development

CONTEST

Cool Blues Show

Dig out those dancings shoes from the back of your closet and experience two nights of incredible blues performances from around the world at the @fortlangleyjazzfest's Cool Blues Show on July 21 & 22 at Fort Langley Park. Art installations, vendors, games, food and beverages, AND a night away from the kids? Say no more.’

Find all the details, and how to enter for free, on our Instagram page.

The contest ends next Monday.

Things to do

🎤 Gurnam Bhullar: Gurnam Bhullar's Diamondstar Canada tour arrives at Abbotsford Centre on April 1. Tickets start around $60.

🎹 Tragic and Triumphant: Fraser Valley Symphony presents soloist pianist MIchelle Mares April 2 at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium in Abbotsford. Tickets online.

🏒 AHL hockey: Abbotsford Canucks host Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings’ AHL affiliate, Friday and Saturday. Tickets online.

🏒 BCHL Hockey: The Chilliwack Chiefs kick off the BCHL playoffs on Friday in Coquitlam. They will host games three and four of their seven-game series next week.

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