Tuesday - Dec. 5, 2023 - Resort, gondola, or neither?

🌧 High 10C

Good morning!

As we approach Christmas, we want to do a local books gift guide, focusing on books with a local angle. We’ve got a pretty good list already, but we want your input! Drop your favourite local (or local-ish) book right here! Thanks!

– Tyler

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

How the definition of ‘consensus’ will determine the fate of the Chilliwack ski resort and gondola proposals

Decisions can be hard.

Years after it was first proposed, an idea to build a new ski resort near Chilliwack continues to generate more government paperwork than tourists. So too does a separate plan for a gondola in the same area.

The proposals are competing concepts for how the mountainous Crown land above Bridal Falls might be used in the century to come. They can’t both be built, so the provincial government can’t support both. But choosing is challenge number two. Challenge number one is deciding how to make a decision—and figuring out what “consensus” among First Nations really entails.

• Today, Tyler writes about competing proposals to bring tourists to the land above Bridal Falls, and why local officials are increasingly tired of the province’s dawdling.

Related

Need to Know

⚠ A flood watch has been issued for the Fraser Valley, meaning river levels may approach or exceed their banks [BC River Forecasting Centre]

⚠ As of Monday afternoon, the Nooksack River was not expected to breach its banks; you can check the latest river height and projections here; floods in the ‘minor’ and ‘action’ stages do not usually cross the border [NOAA]

⚠ Highway 1 between Lytton and Boston Bar in the Fraser Canyon was proactively closed Monday because of the risk of debris flows; it was expected to re-open Tuesday; check DriveBC for the latest [BC Government/DriveBC]

🌧 Free sandbags are available on Nelson Avenue in Hope for anyone who needs them [Hope Standard]

👀 The City of Abbotsford says it is monitoring the Nooksack and places like Clayburn Creek for flooding, but has asked residents to keep catch basins clear to minimize any local flooding [City of Abbotsford]

👉 We wrote last month about what has been done—and what hasn’t been done—to protect the Fraser Valley’s smaller communities from flooding [FVC]

🚧 Pipeline construction has left some Fraser Valley farmers facing a third year of crop loss [Vancouver Sun]

🤔 Harrison Hot Springs’ council has adopted a new strategic plan emphasizing the importance of respect, positivity and collaboration [Justin McElroy/X]

🍰 A strike affecting the supply of sugar in the Lower Mainland continues to drag on [The Tyee]

⚖ A Chilliwack man was handed a four-year prison sentence for a vicious assault that fractured the skull of his victim [Chilliwack Progress]

😢 The daughter of a Mission man who died in a self-started home fire in October says a variety of events led to his tragic death [Mission Record]

🗳 Wild, feral horses should be protected in BC even though they are ‘invasive,’ some say [CBC]

🏐 Two Abbotsford high school volleyball teams claimed silver in their respective classes at the provincial championships [Abbotsford News]

👍 Two Langley-trained teens won medals at the World Trampoline Championships [Langley Advance Times]

The Agenda

New north Chilliwack pedestrian bridge takes another step

Chilliwack council is expected to narrow down the companies bidding to design a new pedestrian bridge over the Hope Slough.

The new bridge would connect Williams Street, south of the slough, to Hope River Road and Gwynn Vaughn Park north of the waterway. City staff opened the field to potential companies earlier this fall, and five firms submitted expressions of interest. The top three—Morrison Hershfield Limited, Parsons Inc., and ISL Engineer and Land Services—will be invited to submit full bids.

The city has said it expects design work to cost between $100,000 and $150,000. When complete the bridge would provide a new route for non-vehicle travel over the slough and provide a third connection between Fairfield Island and central Chilliwack.

SPONSORED BY JAMES & JAMESY

O Christmas Tea: A British Comedy

Fans of Python, Bean, and Seuss… Grab your teacups! 3x London Impresario Winners, James & Jamesy, bring their wildly popular O Christmas Tea: A British Comedy to stages in North Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Mission, and Chilliwack.

Their comic physicality, wordplay, and cleverly crafted interactive elements, is "Complete and utter fun!” - CBC

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Catch up

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