Wednesday - May 28, 2025 - A concrete referendum

🌤 High 25C

Good morning!

I got my first newspaper job when I was 21, but I probably looked 15. And it can be hard getting someone to trust you with their stories when you look like you can’t be trusted with a motor vehicle. Pretty quickly, I decided that maybe a little facial hair would help me look a little more trustworthy. I grew a beard (eventually—it took some time), and I’ve had it ever since.

Recently, I realized that my kids had never seen me without a beard. So on Sunday, I shaved it off and surprised my daughter and son. Seeing my brand new face, they both broke out in uncontrolled laughter, which was the entire point. They seem to be getting used to it, but it’s taking me a little longer to get comfortable with the strange face looking back at me in the mirror. Luckily, I won’t have to look at it for much longer. Shaving takes a lot of work. Not shaving is a lot easier. Slowly, my old familiar face is returning.

– Tyler

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

News

Spuzzum seeks regulatory exemption for proposed resort

A proposed mountain resort near the Coquihalla Summit shouldn’t have to pass the BC government’s lengthy environmental assessment process, according to the Fraser Canyon First Nation that hopes to build the project.

Spuzzum First Nation is seeking an exemption that would allow it to expedite construction of a four-season resort and thousands of homes in the South Anderson River Valley.

The First Nation hopes to build 11 chairlifts, a golf course, a series of mountain biking trails, and thousands of homes in the valley near the Coquihalla Summit. To access the valley, the First Nation plans to build a 900-metre-long tunnel through one of the towering mountains that separate the South Anderson watershed from the Coquihalla valley, The Current reported in February.

• Today, Tyler provides an update on Spuzzum First Nation’s proposed Coquihalla resort, and why the band says the project should be able to skip one of the largest hurdles facing major economic development projects.

Related

Need to Know

👉 The Abbotsford teen stabbed to death in a park Sunday has been identified [Abbotsford News] / Police now say two teens arrested following the stabbing are innocent [Castanet/Canadian Press]

🗳 Harrison Hot Springs’ mayor has blamed the local resort for a fence that has been erected around Hobo Hot Springs, [CBC]

🚔 A teenage boy was also stabbed in Mission Friday evening [CTV]

✈ A small plane crashed into a farmer’s field near Agassiz and caught fire, but the pilot escaped [Fraser Valley Today]

🏚 Mission city planners are considering tweaks to rules that govern how townhomes are built [Mission Record]

🎸 A group of Langley ukulele players will be playing a concert of hard-rock classics this weekend [Langley Advance Times]

📝 Hope Secondary may be renamed to include a Halq'eméylem name [Hope Standard]

🚑 A pedestrian was injured after being struck in a downtown Chilliwack parking lot Tuesday afternoon [Chilliwack Progress]

🍺 Chilliwack-based Old Yale Brewing has opened a large new craft brewery and restaurant in Alberta [Old Yale/Instagram]

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The Agenda

Sq’éwqel First Nation to vote on continued concrete company

Sq’éwqel (Seabird Island) First Nation members will vote to decide whether a concrete company will continue to be one of the main tenants on the band’s business park.

Sq’éwqel Business Park was established in 2014 as the First Nation shifted from agricultural land leases to industrial and commercial business leases. The park contains 50 acres of industrial land and is managed by the First Nation’s development corporation in an effort to increase the band’s economic self-sufficiency.

AE Concrete moved to the park last year, thanks in part to a $4.5 million grant from the provincial government. At the time, it had been located in Surrey. The company makes pre-cast concrete parts, including underground utility boxes, streetlight bases, and culvert headwalls. The move made AE Concrete the business park’s first anchor tenant.

AE Concrete’s original agreement included a 25-year lease. The company now wants to extend that to 75 years so the company can make “long-term investments.” The development corporation noted in Sq’éwqel’s monthly newsletter that they hoped AE Concrete would encourage more businesses to rent in the park. (Currently, only 16 of the 50 acres are leased.)

Sq’éwqel members will be able to vote on whether AE Concrete should have a 75-year lease on Monday, June 2.

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🗓 Things to do

Piano cocktails: Melody and Martini, a cocktail fundraiser for rising piano stars, comes to the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on Friday. Enjoy an elegant night of food, drinks, and live music. Details and tickets online.

Fishtrap friends: The Fraser Valley Conservancy hosts a clean-up and invasive species removal at Fishtrap Creek in Abbotsford on Saturday starting at 9am. Tools and training are provided; registration is required. Details online.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

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