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| Thursday, October 4, 2012
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The Big Heritage Crunch
Park preservationists told to come up with $3 million for acreage By NATASHA JONES Aldergrove Star
HARRY HUNT PHOTO
Five-year-old Jadon LeBold takes a big bite of a heritage apple at the Heritage Apple Day event at Derby Reach Park on Saturday. See page 9.
The Watchers of Langley Forests (WOLF), a non-profit group, has been given until Nov. 17 to come up with $3 million to buy taxpayer-owned land in Glen Valley. The amount is no surprise: In July Mayor Jack Froese challenged those who want to preserve the forested land to come up with the money. But the tight deadline appears to have caught WOLF off guard. WOLF member Stuart Bucholtz declined to comment. “We have to have time to disseminate it,” he said on Tuesday morning. Township administrator Mark Bakken also declined to comment beyond stating that talks between the municipality and WOLF are continuing. WOLF is comprised of Township residents who oppose the Township’s plan to sell what they consider are ecologically significant forests and wetlands. Before WOLF was formed, residents were successful in persuading council not to sell 21 acres of Township-owned forest in Glen Valley on 84 Avenue, between 252 and 254 Streets. If the group can come up with $3 million, it will own the 25-acre forest located near 84 Avenue and 260 Street. The Township had planned to use the
proceeds of the sale to buy the Aldergrove Elementary School site on which in plans to build a new community centre, swimming pool and ice rink. The 21 acres fell into the Township’s hands in the 1930s as a result of a property tax sale. The parcel consists of one five-acre lot and two plots of eight acres each. The parcels are within the Agricultural Land Reserve while those which the Township intends to sell to WOLF are outside the ALR boundary. In a statement issued early last month, WOLF said it has continued a campaign on Facebook and twitter to gather more public support for the retention of the easterly properties. The campaign included organized guided trail walks through the site, and gathering names on a petition. It now has several thousand signatures. Information made public for the first time about the proposal to WOLF appeared in the agenda for council’s meeting on Oct. 1. It notes that council had anticipated community groups would raise funds for Grey Pit but that understanding “appears to be uncertain.” WOLF is was also expected to come up with a $10,000 deposit by Oct. 3. If WOLF can secure the funds, it must show it is an incorporated society under the Society Act, and “protect and conserve” the land for a park, trail, education, and recreational purposes in perpetuity.
Pipeline break oods sewage into West Creek By MONIQUE TAMMINGA Aldergrove Star
Langley Township is working hard to clean up a “significant” sewage spill into a portion of West Creek, a fish-bearing stream, last Thursday. According to Township director of public works Ronald Zwaag, a large sewage main broke in Gloucester at 272 Street, south of 56 Avenue, which sits right beside West Creek.
The Township found out about it quickly, and crews worked fast to shut shut down the flow of sewage so they could get at the broken main. “We worked through the night and had the pipe fixed by the weekend,” said Zwaag. “But the clean up of the creek is complicated and ongoing.” Both the Ministry of Environment and the Department of Fisheries are
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aware and in contact with the Township about the spill. When sewage effluent spews into a waterway, it chokes the oxygen inside the water, killing every living thing that relies on that oxygen. “The first thing we did was pump oxygen back into the creek,” said Terry Veer, manager of operations. This particular area of West Creek had local species like trout.
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However, other areas of West Creek are salmon bearing. The spill area appears to be contained because a beaver dam has landlocked that particular section of waterway. But the damage is done and now they are conducting tests to see what levels of chloroform and other materials are left in the water. “We have been pumping out sewage and replacing it with fresh water, so we
are waiting for test results on that,” said Veer. The mystery is why a 12-year-old pipe would break. “The pipes should last 75 years,” said Veer. A piping expert is being brought in by the Township to investigate the pipe to see where the failure is and to determine if this could happen in other parts of the sewage lines in Gloucester.
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