Parks and waterfront

Marina Park is an important area. And it's important to the fabric and the character of Fort Langley. So it is something that is very important to me and to our group is that there was a plan. It was scrapped. But to re-look at that plan. But that all comes down to feedback from the residents of Fort Langley. We need to hear what is desired for the waterfront there. What is to be included, what we need to put in there that's going to enhance the character of Fort Langley. So it's important. We are only going to know that through consultation from groups like this, Fort Langley Community Association, so that the people of Fort Langley are giving that feedback so that we can make a good decision based on that feedback.

There's been a process underway for the Fort Langley Community Park, sorry, Marina Park and Waterfront. It's been going on since the early in the term when we really wanted to make finally restoring the Haldi House after 20 years of sitting derelict, we really wanted to make that a top priority. Part of that was consultation that went on for still going on. The plan is not scrapped. The plan is continually being involved and reviewed as one phase is done after another. And the council has taken the position to focus on feedback from the consultation process that wasn't controversial and execute that as part of a long-term incremental plan to develop the waterfront. So there is a plan that's ongoing. And the next phase of that is relocating the boat launch out to Glen Valley in partnership with Metro Vancouver. And we almost have that done. That's going to be about a $10 million investment from the regional government in developing the Glen Valley Marina Regional Park. And that will then open up the next phase for that area to get some of that asphalt and concrete out, relocate another portion or boat launch for non-motorized vessels and ensure we can now look at with the community some other phases or other options that can be contemplated once some of that asphalt comes out. And so it's really important that we continue that process, you know, and not believe the misinformation that has been scrapped or there isn't a process going on because there is. And I think a lot of people in this room know that there's a process that's ongoing for that and appreciate all the feedback that we've had from multiple open houses to review that feedback. You know, and one of the important parts again is to be factual, you know, the incumbent councillors and his team should know the debt because they voted for all of it. And now they're campaigning against it. And so this is again, the challenge that we're having is, you know, if they vote for all of it, how do they not know what it is. And so I think that this is a challenge that we're having is that there's an ongoing, unprecedented misinformation campaign in this community. And I think this is part of it. Plans are scrapped when they're not. The debt is this when it's not. The tax increase is going to be that when it's not. And I think it's really important that we continue to be factual. And in regards to the Fort Langley waterfront, it's really important we have a council that actually knows there's a plan that hasn't been scrapped. Thank you.

I it's one … thing I love about the Township of Langley and it is our parks and recreation. I grew up here and I can see how the trails, I mean you just go down to Derek Doubleday. I have a bike, I love riding my bike through the parks and trails. I have a brother that lives in Vernon he comes here to Langley. Guys, wow you guys have such great parks and what we need to do is we need to make sure that we prioritize that we take care of them. When I think about the facilities that we have, we do have amazing facilities but what people forget is that the councils before us actually bought the land that we could build the facilities on. So you know we talk a lot about what we've done this term but without the strategic acquisition land acquisitions of the councils before us we can't actually do this so a lot of the parks and trails that were that we're you know we get to enjoy today was actually built by previous councils so I just always want to just take a moment to just think about the people who were before us and acknowledge that and we've done some great things on this Council term and we can do more so I just want to say that thank you.

With the restoration, that gives a lot of different economic and cultural opportunities for the interconnectivity for the Marina Park and the Haldi House to really highlight the amazing community that Fort Langley is and the culture that's here. Whether that's through economic activities, such as film activity, but more importantly, different cultural events that can be hosted in the park, whether it's different than the Cranberry Festival or other things that can be shifted over. And to see if we can foster more activity within this amazing community.

I'm June Park. I think Township Council already implemented funds to restore and work on the dredging on the Bedford Channel. The real problem is, how are we going to do with the material that we remove from the river? As we're closely working with Kwantlen First Nations, and also with the local, provincial, and federal government, in order to, you know, not just solve this problem right now, but for the long term, we need to work on the site to remove all the materials and store them. So, that's what we're planning for the next term.

We have already seen the restoration of Haldi House and public consultation begin on Marina Park. Now we need to build on that work. Mayor Eric Woodward secured a site to move the motorized boat launch out of the town, the Bedford Channel by working with the Metro Vancouver. And this is, this will unlock the full potential of the waterfront as beautiful public amenity and not sold off for the development as was originally planned.

I think … the really important question you put in there is maintaining. We have … borrowed and built so much, but take a look at the staff report from last year. They've said outright that we don't have enough money for maintenance. And this is going to be a long-term struggle. It's not just our parks, it's this very building we're in There's a staff report that said we don't have the money to repair the roof on here. We are so focused on building new we've completely forgot that we need to maintain our existing assets. Things are gonna fall apart five, ten, twenty years down the road because we've been chasing, chasing, chasing what's gonna win us election or what's gonna win us votes at the next election. The Township is gonna be here for years, hundreds of years to come. We need to focus on the maintenance of the long term of what we're going to do here. Thank you.

So my understanding is the project is currently waiting on impact assessment with the federal government. And dredging can only occur during narrow windows in the year. So it seems unlikely in the next 12 months, given the election and impact assessment, that this will be completed in the next 12 months. Now, what I would do with that 12 months is work with senior levels of government with the First Nations to get excess funding of something that's not typically something that's funded by local taxes here.

Mike Parker, I struggle a little bit with this question. I think it's inappropriate for council to dictate what needs to happen in parks. Really, the park creation process should be a bottom-up approach. We need to find out what Fort Langley residents truly need. What problems do you have? And work to find solutions and trade-offs to start addressing those problems. Philip Jackman Park and Aldergrove, that was created by community under the Kinsmen banner to address the needs of the community. And look at what that's created. A hundred years later, it's still a thriving park in Aldergrove.

When I grew up in Murrayville, the W.C Blair pool was there from the very beginning. It was something that I got to take advantage of from a very early age. Unfortunately, for the 65,000 people who currently live in Willoughby and the soon-to-be 100,000 people who live in Willoughby by the end of this half decade, There is no community centre, And so our team has been very clear that the number one priority for the next term will be to build a community centre in Willoughby with an adequately-sized aquatic facility with a library, gymnasium, senior centre, basketball, gymnasiums, everything of the works so that Walnut Grove can get their community centre back and the W.C Blair Pool in Murrayville can have pressure relieved off of it as well. Now, obviously Brookswood is the next horizon for growth over the next 20, 30 years. And so the planning and the proactive approach to getting a community center built in Brookswood begins now. We want to make sure that whoever is on Council over the next decade and a half does not inherit the same problem that we had, which was there was not a single plan for a Willoughby Community Center We undertook two rounds of public engagement to determine that the site next to the tennis center was not sufficient, that is why on day one, if there is a Council and a school board that is united in vision and drive to get that community center built, we'll approve the land swap so we can get a community center built and a new school built for Willoughby as well.

So this council in the last four years has for the first time actually set up a fund to be able to make sure that the dredging occurs on an ongoing basis. Previously, council has done a one-off process with dredging and we as a team would like to take a long-term, more proactive approach. And so once we determine where the material will be going, ideally with the Kwantlen First Nation, we will be able to move forward with the plan. We have the whole structure set aside that we are waiting for final approval and we can initiate dredging as soon as we possibly can. And that's something our team is committed to because obviously every single user group in the channel across Fort Langley and across our community needs this project desperately done.

Tess Rouse. So parks and facilities are economic development they are what create Langley as a destination I had the privilege of interviewing a couple different sports association members and what I heard was crazy there are 300 kids that couldn't play hockey last year because there was no arenas there were kids on wait lists for soccer that couldn't play house level league sports because we didn't have the facilities here that should be a concern for every business every parent in this room it is for me we are not just investing in those industries or sports we also are protecting natural space look at the horn pit natural area in Brookswood it's huge we are looking to expand also and improve our normal parks that everyone can access Go to … Booth Community Park it has lights finally. It has trails that don't get flooded out. That costs money, but that investment has value for our kids, for our future generations. And we are also investing in land acquisitions to ensure that we can keep building a Langley that makes it complete and makes it livable. Thank you.

Thanks, Cory, for the question. That's a great question. One of the biggest things that we have is that we did bring facilities into the Township. In reality, we had some facilities that were not really invested. And let me be clear, I thank every single person that serves before, that serves today and hopefully will serve in the future. There is no comparison. At that time, they had certain sets of facts and information and they were able to judge using that. Moving forward, I'd like to see more prioritization on the use for everyone. So now that we have some of these facilities that we've already built, I do believe the Willoughby Community Center is a big priority. I know it was proposed a long time ago. It was proposed in the past. Council meeting, group, or year, or time. And it is something that we're talking about today still. Swimming lessons are very hard to get. I gave up on that for my boys. Their dad takes them and throws them in the swimming pool and that's how they learn swimming, no more lessons. They also have been learning in different state situations such as taking and exploring other like kayaking … and canoeing club in our community. So there's a lot of things that we have in this community and I hope we can maintain it, thanks.

Okay, first I want to make something very clear, is that any shovels in the ground projects need to be finished. We cannot waste, put good money after bad by not completing projects. So that's a non-issue there. What I do want to do going forward though is I would support anything that makes sure that whatever facility we are building, we know that Willoughby needs a community center we know that Brookswood need some attention as far as their facilities goes, has the maximum benefit for the maximum number people of people that are in the in the area that they serve. Not just a select few. What we can't do is keep making things for ribbon cuttings and then having somebody whose parents can't afford to put them in sports not access any parks or recreation facilities. So that's a very big priority for myself. We also need to consider that we need to rebuild that relationship with the school board so that we can work together and build facilities attached to schools so that every facility that we are using is used to its absolute maximum potential. We may not be able to afford to build a lot more but what we can do is look at utilizing what we have to its maximum benefit and I think that makes sense.