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| Thursday, February 6, 2014
Aldergrove Aims for the Basket!
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Page 13: Skating teams bring home medals
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‘Year of the Horse’ Celebrated
Bertrand Creek development gets approval By DAN FERGUSON Aldergrove Star
HARRY HUNT PHOTO
The colorful Lion Dance brought in the Lunar New Year and “Year of the Horse” before a large and appreciative crowd at Willowbrook Mall over the weekend.
Residential pot production banned By DAN FERGUSON Aldergrove Star
Marijuana growing in residential neighbourhood will no longer be allowed under new Langley Township regulations given preliminary approval by council Monday night (Feb. 3). The changes to the property safety bylaw would impose a fine of up to $10,000 a day on anyone who currently has a medical marijuana production licence if they continue cultivating pot plants after March 31, when the all of the smallscale growing licences issued by the federal government are set to expire. Under new medicinal mari-
juana regulations that take effect April 1, growing will switch from the current system of small operations with one or two clients to larger commercial-style bulk growing. The planned Langley Township ban on residential pot growing will apply to “the growth, planting, cultivation, manufacture, storage, transfer or disposal of a controlled substance, including marijuana, unless that person is authorized to do so pursuant to a commercial licence.” The measure won unanimous approval with little debate. Councillor Charlie Fox
called it “a very progressive step.” The Township also wants to ban marijuana production on the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) that makes up 75 per cent of the township, but has yet to get a response from the provincial government to the proposed regulation that would restrict growing to industrial areas. The Agricultural Land Commission 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,
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the agriculture minister has yet to make a ruling. Mayor Jack Froese has scheduled a meeting with the minister later this month in Victoria to discuss the matter. As of mid-December, at least eight businesses, seven of them located on agricultural land, had expressed interest in growing medicinal marijuana in Langley Township. One of the would-be Langley growers, Koch Greenhouses owner Bruce Bakker, has called the attempt to restrict medicinal marijuana cultivation to industrial areas “troubling” because, he says, the ban was drafted without consulting farmers.
A controversial proposal to develop 19 acres of land into 61 residential lots in Aldergrove is one step closer to being built after winning preliminary approval from Township council Monday night. The site near 28 Avenue and 276 Street used to be a sewage treatment plant that was decommissioned in the late 1990s. The design would keep 40 per cent of the total property, 7.7 acres, as “environmental-natural open space” to provide setbacks from the creeks and wetland areas, and a trail network would be built along Bertrand Creek and the perimeter of the property. All but one member of council voted for the development, with several saying the money from the sale of the property will help pay for the planned new recreation centre and pool in Aldergrove. “If we want a pool, we better get at it,” said councillor David Davis. “It’s a first step to putting money aside for a pool,” councillor Bev Dornan said. “This is absolutely ideal for Aldergrove,” councillor Charlie Fox said. “It’s going to be nothing but great,” said councillor Steve Ferguson. At a public hearing on the project last month, several speakers lobbied to have the forested southern portion on the south side of Bertrand Creek preserved. Councillor Bob Long said the site was “a bit of a war zone,” not a pristine wilderness. Councillor Kim Richter, the only member of council who voted against the development, called it “more suburban sprawl.” Richter tried to get council to limit development to the northern section, but was outvoted Two Aldergrove residents, Angela Wonitowy and Jessica Horst, collected 300 names on a petition that called for a down-sizing of the development. The proposal by builder Michael Sanderson will come back to council at a future meeting for a final decision. - with files from Kurt Langmann
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Trees will come down for new home development here.
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