- Fraser Valley Current
- Posts
- March 31, 2023 edition - Why Lytton remains a 'wasteland'
March 31, 2023 edition - Why Lytton remains a 'wasteland'
Bureaucracy, a lack of urgency, the weather and Lytton's unique characteristics has left residents frustrated and displaced for nearly two years
Friday, March 31, 2023 | Today: 🌧 10 C | Forecast
So we’re a few days into our membership drive and I’d like to thank all our new members from the bottom of my heart. I’d also like to thank everyone who sent us a kind, lovely sentence or two about why they became a member. Those endorsements will help us spread the word but they also just make us feel really, really good. So thank you Laura, Yvonne, George and everyone else who have become members and have such nice things to say. We have a target of 745 members and we’re making strides: if getting there was like driving from Hope to Vancouver, we’d be around the Vedder Canal by now. But we need you to get us the rest of the way. So help us out if you can. A membership for an entire month costs about the same as six litres of gas.
Our first Saturday round-up edition will be coming next weekend. Hopefully today’s long, years-in-the-making story on the Lytton rebuild—still free for everyone to read—will be enough to occupy you this weekend. Lytton is off the beaten track, tucked below Highway 1, and few likely realize that even as the world has moved on, no rebuilding has begun. So I wanted to explore the complex reasons for the stalled recovery. Because the Lytton fire won’t be the last of its kind.
Consider forwarding this to a friend so they can stay Current too! New here?
Sign up for free.
NEWS
How the Lytton rebuild went wrong
Stand on the dirt road that overlooks the Lytton townsite, and you can imagine the sensory cacophony of a town rebuilding. The sound of hammer on nails; the smell of drying paint and wet tar; the sights of lives starting over.
But you need to imagine it. Because down below, Lytton remains a flattened heap of dirt and concrete. Amit it, a spare handful of workers sift methodically and patiently through dirt for debris and contaminants, as they have done for the past year. Security cars linger. Traffic is rare.
Seven days after Lytton burned to the ground in 2021, then-BC Premier John Horgan stood in front of an array of cameras and pledged to rebuild.
More than that, Lytton would be rebuilt as a “community for the future” and become an example of successfully preparing for a warmer climate, Horgan promised.
But 600-plus days into that future, rebuilding remains a goal, not a task. In the face of delays and bureaucracy, some displaced residents have decided not to return, whenever that might be possible. Others have had the choice made for themselves: on this February morning came news that an elderly resident who dreamed of returning and rebuilding had died, a new Lytton still a concept, rather than a reality.
Today, the village has become another sort of case study.
This is the story about the immense difficulty of rebuilding a tiny, traumatized community, and how BC’s post-disaster gameplan was ill-prepared to pave the way to reconstruct a village in its darkest hour.
This is why Lytton remains, as its new mayor calls it, “a wasteland.”
This story was written based on interviews, previous news coverage, interviews by other media, footage from council meetings, and personal observations from more than a dozen trips to the townsite throughout the last two years.
Related story
Need to know
🔥 Mission firefighters doused what was supposed to be a controlled burn before it got out of control in the Steelhead area [MFRS/Facebook]
👉 ‘The best thing that happened to me is that I went to prison,” says one of the men convicted in a $6 million Langley business fraud [Langley Advance Times]
👀 Pharmasave is opening an outlet in Agassiz [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]
⚖ Murder charges were quietly dropped against a man who shot and killed three people in Chilliwack in 2014 [Chilliwack Progress]
👴 The Abbotsford News celebrated its 100th anniversary with a commemorative edition [Abbotsford News]
❓ Harrison Hot Springs is considering a site for a future dog park, but it’s in the Agricultural Land Reserve [Agassiz-Harrison Observer] / Last August we wrote about the region’s relative lack of dog-friendly spaces [FVC]
👍 A former gangster living in Chilliwack is now trying to keep kids out of organized crime [Chilliwack Progress]
🚔 Police and paramedics converged on a Chilliwack neighbourhood where residents suspected shots had been fired Thursday [Chilliwack Progress]
💼 Advance your career with UFV Continuing Education certificate programs in Public Relations, Records Management, and more. Apply now and set yourself up for success.*
*Sponsored Listing
The Agenda
The Bradner rest stop has become increasingly congested as people with no homes turn to the site to park RVs. 📷 Google Earth Pro
Changes coming for Bradner rest stop
The province wants to overhaul the Bradner rest stop on the north side of Highway 1 between Abbotsford and Langley.
The City of Abbotsford has received an application to “increase truck parking and create a wetland area,” at the well-used site. The application was submitted by a private company, Associated Environmental Consultants, on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation. City staff will review the proposal, but the final decision will be made by the Agricultural Land Commission, which must decide whether to grant a non-farm-use exemption because the land is in the Agricultural Land Reserve.
As BC’s housing crisis continues, the Bradner rest stop and others like it are increasingly being used by people with nowhere else to go. While the stop already has many sites for cars, RVs and trucks, many people have taken up indefinite residence in recreational vehicles and occasionally tents. As a result, satellite imagery shows the site—including areas generally designated for truck parking—has become progressively more crowded. With long waits for housing of any sort across British Columbia, the province has been hesitant to evict such homeless campers.
The Current has sought further information from the province, but did not receive a response by deadline.
You’ll notice that we’ve beefed up our events listings. But beginning next week, this will be locked for everyone but our members.
Things to do
Friday, March 31
🐸 Family Nature Festival: The Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve in Chilliwack is holding its Family Nature Festival Friday and Saturday with art events, educational displays, and interpretive tours. Details online.
📚 Archives tour: The Chilliwack Archives holds tours of its collection on the last Friday of each month. Get a sneak peak into Chilliwack's history and the world of archival science. Details online.
🎤 Elvis tribute: Elvis tribute artist Darren Lee performs at Wings in Abbotsford. Tickets online.
🎭 The Laramie Project: UFV Theatre presents The Laramie Project, the story of Matthew Shepard, at the Abbotsford campus. The play runs until April 1. Tickets online.
🌲 Climate emergency speaker: Guest speaker Sarah Kamal will speak at UFV’s Abbotsford campus about working with Kanagka Bar Indian Band to respond to the climate emergency. Free. Reserve a spot online.
😋 Food trucks: Food Truck Wars hosts 45 food trucks, along with entertainment on March 31, April 1, and April 2 at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Langley campus. Details online.
Saturday, April 1
🎤 Shania Twain tribute: Vocalist Michelle Reid and her band perform as Totally Twain at George Preston Centre in Langley. Tickets online.
🎶 Gurnam Bhullar: Gurnam Bhullar's Diamondstar Canada tour arrives in Abbotsford at Abbotsford Centre on April 1. Tickets start around $60.
🌲 Clear-cut party: Mission is holding what it’s calling a “cutBlock party” to celebrate the 65th anniversary of its community forest and plant seedlings. Everyone who attends will get a seedling to take home. Details online.
🏞 Family Nature Festival: The Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve in Chilliwack is holding its Family Nature Festival Friday and Saturday with art events, educational displays, and interpretive tours. Details online.
🍔 Best of the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival: The Chilliwack Cultural Centre presents the VIMFF’s best films at 7:30pm. Tickets online.
🎸 Six Gun Romeo: Flashback Brewery in downtown Chilliwack will host rock band Six Gun Romeo at 8:30pm. Tickets online.
🚜 Plowing match: The 101st annual Chilliwack Plowing Match runs all day at Greendale Acres on Yale Road. Tickets online and on site. Check out our story on last year’s match, and what it takes to win, here.
🐰 Spring Fling & Easter Things: Food trucks, live music, and the Easter bunny will be at the Chilliwack Landing Sports Centre on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Details online.
🌱 Earthwise volunteers needed: Earthwise Society in Agassiz hosts an open house (wth treats and drinks) for volunteers from 11am to 12:30pm. Details online.
Sunday, April 2
🎹 Tragic and Triumphant: Fraser Valley Symphony presents "Tragic and Triumphant" with soloist pianist Michelle Mares at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium in Abbotsford. Tickets online.
🐰 Spring Fling & Easter Things: Food trucks, live music, and the Easter bunny will be at the Chilliwack Landing Sports Centre on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Details online.
Members get access our new weekly events round-up.
Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.
Catch up
Want to promote your business to 30,000+ engaged locals?
Have a tip? Email us
Reply