Monday, Sept. 18, 2023 - Township tattoos and Mission arcades

Monday, Sept. 18, 2023 | 🌧 High 18C

Good morning!

Have you seen any bears this year? Because I sure have. Before 2023, I could probably count on one hand the number of bears I had seen in the past decade. This year, though, I think I’m up to a dozen bruins, if not more.

I’ve seen bears while kayaking near Lillooet, while driving near Green Lake in the Cariboo, and while coming back from the Community Forest in Chilliwack. (Each of those was a mama bear and two cubs.) I’ve seen so many bears this year, I’ve lost track of individual sightings. Some have speculated that the fires are driving the bruins into towns. Experts say the early onset of spring may be the culprit. (This makes sense given the location of some bear sightings and the fact that it’s not like 2017 and 2018 and 2021 also weren’t bad fire years in the southern Interior.)

If you have had any Fraser Valley bear encounters, tell us about them.

WORTH KNOWING

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

⚠️ Here’s the current smoke forecast / Check the BC Wildfire Dashboard here

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

NEWS

Decades-old tattoo shop and arcade rules under microscope

If you’ve been tattooed in the Langley Township in the last 40 years, the business was likely operating illegally. Tattoo shops have been outlawed in the Township for decades, but council is now reviewing the policy to potentially lift the ban.

The traditional practice of tattoo design has evolved over the years. Tattooing has expanded and is the latest trend in the beauty industry with things like microbladed eyebrows. The wearing of tattoos has also been largely normalized—even Canada’s prime minister has a large tattoo.

In March, council began reviewing a decades-old bylaw that banned tattoo businesses from operating in the Township.

“The spirit of this one (proposal) is to allow tattoo shops in the Township of Langley to be put into suitable zoning locations and to bring the Township of Langley into this century,” Coun. Barb Martens said when the review was suggested.

The Township isn’t the only municipality reviewing its archaic rules. Mission is also reconsidering a decades-old policy that forbid students from entering an arcade or poll hall during school hours or on Sundays.

• Today, Joti writes about the Township’s plan to review tattooing in the municipality and other odd bans in the Fraser Valley.

Need to know

⚠ Six different people were bit by coyotes (or the same coyote) in Mission on Friday morning; officers haven’t yet found the ravenous dog(s) [CTV]

🗳 John Allen, a former mayor of Harrison Hot Springs, won a byelection to fill an empty council seat; he is a supporter of the village’s embattled mayor [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

👉 Police have identified the two people slain in a shooting in the Chilliwack River Valley, and their alleged killer [The Province]

‍🚘 A 17-tonne Tyrannosaurus rex named Alice will move from Chilliwack to the Okanagan [Source Here]

🚑 Two people were injured in a stabbing in Abbotsford; the suspected attacker was also hospitalized [CBC]

🥃 A “distillery and beer festival” in Chilliwack next weekend will raise money for music students [Chilliwack Progress]

🚓 Alcohol may have been a factor in an incident that killed a pedestrian in Langley on Thursday evening. [CTV]

👉 A protest against LGBTQ inclusion policies in school is planned for this week in Chilliwack; labour groups are planning to counter-protest [Fraser Valley Today]

🌲 Why old, taller trees are so much more resilient than new trees [Politico]

👉 Homes are available for cheap at tax auctions, but there’s a big catch [CBC]

🚔 A 29-year-old Abbotsford man was shot and killed in Burnaby on Friday; police identified him Sunday [Daily Hive]

🎬 Hope’s movie theatre has two new local managers [Hope Standard] / We spoke to the former manager earlier this year; he told us of the struggles to keep the facility running [FVC]

🌱 Imagine Abbotsford claiming its place as BC's hub for agricultural innovation, education, and commercialization. That’s the brighter future that Abbotsford Tech District will make possible.*

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The Agenda

Proposed Abbotsford development could spur South Fraser Way extension

A proposal has been submitted to develop one of the most heavily focused, privately owned properties in Central Abbotsford.

Forme Development has applied with the city to develop an 8.7-hectare property just to the east of the Sumas Way shopping complex that is home to Save-On Foods, among other businesses.

The developer hopes to build at least one apartment building on the site, according to records posted online this month. A portion of the property would also be rezoned as parkland.

Construction on the site may allow the city to finally accomplish a key goal for its road network: extending South Fraser Way’s eastern terminus to Eleanor Avenue—a tiny dead-end road that has seen intense apartment construction over the last five years. The extension has been mooted for years, but has not yet arisen, even as new apartments on Eleanor have been built. Traffic at the intersection of Eleanor and Marshall Avenue has been a repeated concern. The connection of Eleanor to South Fraser Way is hoped to alleviate that—but could also create issues if drivers begin using Eleanor to bypass Sumas Way entirely.

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