Tuesday - Oct. 22, 2024 - Harrison marina listed for sale

🌦 High 12C

Good morning!

I’ve received a couple emails about how the Conservative sweep of the valley wasn’t actually as comprehensive as the seat total suggests. Readers have noted that the Conservatives only needed about 55% of the vote to win all nine seats in our region. The sweep, they say, is partly an artifact of our electoral system.

That’s true of course. I’ve long been interested in various electoral and proportional representation systems. And if we had regional proportional representation, we might have something like five Conservative representatives and four NDP MLAs in the valley. Of course, there would be other changes as well. Instead of nine ridings, we might have just two or three. That’s how some systems work: you’d have multiple representatives rather than a single MLA. And provincially, you’d have Conservatives win in places like Vancouver, where the seat distribution was somewhat opposite to that in the Fraser Valley. So the overall situation would actually be similar to Saturday’s outcome, albeit with the Green Party holding more seats and more-clearly wielding the balance of power.

Of course, this is all a fantasy. Because if we had proportional representation, the entire party structure of BC politics would be different. For one, there would be much less incentive for the BC United and the BC Conservatives to join forces to avoid splitting the right-of-centre vote. And without that, the NDP wouldn’t have gained ex-BC United voters who disliked the BC Conservatives’ candidates or John Rustad. We could be talking about a right-wing coalition today. Or who knows, we could see an even stronger NDP-Green alliance. This alternate reality could have taken us to any number of political places. How much you want to visit them is a whole other discussion.

– Tyler

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Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope (We have had to temporarily change our forecast links to the Weather Network due to a technical error.)

NEWS

Abbotsford’s parkland crunch

Abbotsford has more land than any other British Columbia municipality, but it still doesn’t have enough to realize all its dreams.

As Mission, Chilliwack, and Langley spend millions on new recreation facilities, Abbotsford has been slower to build amenities for its growing population. But Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens says the city has focused on finding ways to make better use of the facilities it already owns, while eyeing potential properties that could be used in the future.

In recent years, Langley has moved to build a massive soccer campus, Mission has set the stage for a destination spray park, and Chilliwack has budgeted money to vastly expand its trail network while building a large pickleball facility. Even the tiny District of Kent is building a massive new leisure centre.

Abbotsford, though, has spent much less time and money on new recreation facilities. Instead, most of its energy has been focused on creating new strategies to guide how its pools, fields, and cultural holdings will be used in the coming years.

Some of those strategies foresee the construction of new facilities, but the city hasn’t actually gotten around to committing money to actually build new fields or aquatic complexes.

Siemens says the city is working on new amenities, but needs more land to make them happen. And with land a scarce resource in Abbotsford—perhaps more so than its neighbours—Siemens said the city has been focused on making better, more efficient use of the land and parks it already has.

• Today, Tyler talks with Siemens about the city’s response to increasing demand for recreation facilities, the progress it has made, and the barriers that still exist. 

• Later this month, we will publish the full conversation between Tyler and Abbotsford’s mayor.

Related

Need to Know

⚖ A Langley man who shot and killed an acquaintance with a crossbow was handed a five-year prison sentence [Global]

👍 A mobile food bank called The Blue Bus is serving people in Aldergrove and Abbotsford [Abbotsford News]

🚔 A year after police raided a massive Hatzic Valley fentanyl ‘super lab’ and seized 25 kilos of the drug, no charges have been laid and the investigation has gone dormant [Vancouver Sun]

⚡ A mudslide in Chilliwack knocked out power for hundreds on Saturday [Chilliwack Progress]

👉 Mass timber might be used to build a new Langley firehall [Aldergrove Star]

🌲 Harrison Hot Springs is clearing debris and wildfire fuel along its Spirit Loop trail [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🚔 A driver dropped a loaded handgun from his truck after being pulled over for running a stop sign in Mission [Mission Record]

🚧 Many roads in Langley remained closed following the weekend storm [Langley Advance Times]

👨‍🎨 Got a university-bound creative? Sign them up for KPU’S Nov 2 Creative Connections for portfolio advice and interactive workshops in writing, design, VFX, and more!*

*Sponsored Listing

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The Agenda

Price slashed for Harrison’s marina

Harrison Hot Springs largest marina is for sale for $5.9 million—roughly half of its assessed value.

Harrison Hot Springs Marina, a narrow strip of land between Rockwell Drive and the lake, includes 225 boat slips and a lease of 4.3 hectares of offshore space. The property is essentially a two-acre driveway beside the road, with gravel parking for trailers. It has no buildings on site. The site is being marketed as an “excellent opportunity for investors” with “various development options” and a built-in income stream.

The marina isn't the only one in Harrison—the village itself operates a wharf where boat users can park their boat for a day. But it is the only one in the village limits that you don't need a club membership to use for more than a short stay.

The marina has been on the market for at least two months, and was initially listed for sale for $10 million. Last year, the assessed value of the land, its docks and its offshore lease was about $10.8 million. However, the owners recently dropped the price to $5.9 million and are “very open to offers,” according to their real estate agent.

Agassiz registers valley’s highest rain total

Unlike in 2021, the Fraser Valley was spared the worst of the weekend’s atmospheric river.

According to Environment Canada, Coquitlam received 256 millimetres of rain over the weekend. The Fraser Valley was still inundated, but received only half as much precipitation, with more rain falling on the north and west ends of the region.

Nearly every community set a new daily precipitation record for Oct. 20. Agassiz received 141mm of rain over the weekend while Abbotsford got soaked with 130mm; 118mm of the wet stuff was registered in Chilliwack. Further east, Hope fared comparatively well, with 99mm of rain falling. Langley, which experienced significant flooding in some areas, received 117.6mm of rain on Sunday alone. (Environment Canada didn’t get a weekend-long precipitation recording for Langley.) Roads were closed in the area, and The Current observed at least one property in Aldergrove where a barn was flooded.

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