ALDERGROVE STAR Your Hometown Community Newspaper for over 55 Years
| Thursday, December 26, 2013
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December a busy month for extreme weather shelter
Merry Christmas!
By KURT LANGMANN Aldergrove Star
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Santa and Mrs. Claus visited the Muriel Arnason Library, and presented a wonderful Christmas program to hundreds of children and their parents by reading the classic Christmas poem “’Twas The Night Before Christmas” and leading the audience in a Christmas sing-along. The kids also enjoyed entering the draw, and the parents were happy to take pictures of their child/children with Santa.
A growing interest in marijuana production By DAN FERGUSON Aldergrove Star
At least eight businesses want to grow medicinal marijuana in Langley Township. Mayor Jack Froese made the disclosure during debate on a proposed bylaw that would ban commercial marijuana production from the Agricultural Land Reserve that makes up 75 per cent of the Township. The bylaw would restrict growing to industrial areas. Froese said seven of the eight known proposed commercial grow ops would be located in the ALR, a fact that lends some urgency to the proposed ban. “Time is of the essence,” Froese said. “We should have something in place.” New federal government
regulations that will take effect April 1 of next year will switch medicinal marijuana growing from the current system of small operations with one or two clients to larger commercial-style bulk growing. Council gave final approval to the proposed ban on Monday (Dec. 16), but the regulation still has to be approved by the provincial ministry of agriculture which has final say over farming in the ALR. So far, only one of the wouldbe Langley growers has gone public. Koch Greenhouses owner Bruce Bakker came to Township council on Dec. 9 to call the attempt to restrict medicinal marijuana cultivation to industrial areas “troubling” and complain the ban was drafted with-
out consulting farmers. Two members of council thought the Township should slow down the approval process and take a second look at the regulations. Councillor Bob Long said Langley should follow the example of Maple Ridge, which has done exactly the opposite by restricting medicinal marijuana to the ALR. “Maple Ridge is going south and we’re going north,” Long said. Councillor David Davis said the news that existing greenhouse operators are going into marijuana production helps address his concern that usable farmland would be lost to construction of fortress-like growing facilities. “I don’t think the sky is going
to fall,” Davis said. “Not a lot is going to happen April 1.” Davis and Long were unable to convince the rest of council. “We discussed this [the bylaw],” Councillor Grant Ward said. “We’ve got to move forward.” “We have to do something,” Councillor Charlie Fox said. “We can’t sit still and tread water on this one.” The Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) the provincial agency that administers the ALR, recently declared that medical marijuana growing on agricultural land is protected under farming regulations that override the the Township of Langley’s authority. However, the agriculture minister has yet to make a ruling.
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With the recent cold snap stretching for more than a week, the extreme weather shelter at the Gateway of Hope was the busiest it has ever been. “It’s the highest numbers we have seen in here,” said Les McAusland, manager of Langley’s extreme weather shelter program. “So far, in eight days, we have had 156 people access the shelter since we opened it on Dec. 2.” To put that into perspective, a total of 255 persons accessed extreme weather beds since the beginning of 2012. There are 30 mats available if that many are needed, but filling them all would make for very cramped quarters, he said. On average, they sheltered around 20 people each night. “We haven’t even touched into most of December yet,” said McAusland on Dec. 11. The extreme weather shelter alert was called off on Dec. 12, but was re-issued on Dec. 18 as temperatures were forecast to drop below zero once again. McAusland said the demand and busyness has been taking its toll on staff, and he is a bit worried about how they will staff the shelter throughout Christmas. Staff have always run the shelter but they may have to look at asking volunteers to help out if more Arctic fronts are on the way. McAusland is thanking the community for its continued generosity. People and groups are coming in every day to donate coats, socks, blankets and clothes. “It’s so appreciated,” he said. The Fraser Valley Real Estate’s coat drive was also well appreciated and all the items have already been given to those in need, he said. Meanwhile, two youths have used the shelter for teens set up in Aldergrove, said Loren Roberts, senior program manager at Aldergrove Neighbourhood Service. On top of that, five youth have been placed in shelters outside of Langley, because there is no centre for them in Langley. Those teens will remain in the shelters, longer term. If beds had not been available, they would have been able to use the overnight shelter, Roberts said.
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