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WEDNESDAY July 8, 2015 • www.langleytimes.com NEWS Stage 2 Restrictions in Effect
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ARTS & LIFE Art in the Vines
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SPORTS Hurdling Toward Colombia
Butterfly benefit
Lack of dialogue led to conflict – report
300 MONARCHS RELEASED AS LODGE, HOSPICE FUNDRAISER DA N F E R G US ON Langley Time s
CONSULTANT REVIEW OF BROOKSWOOD, COULTER BERRY CONTROVERSIES SAYS STAFF AND COUNCIL ACTED PROPERLY, BUT FAILED TO WIN PUBLIC TRUST D AN F ERGUSO N Ti me s Re po r t e r
A report by an outside consultant concludes Langley Township politicians and staff lost the trust of residents even though they acted properly during the Brookswood/ Fernridge Coulter Berry building battles. A memo to council from Peter Whitelaw, titled “Review of Brookswood/Fernridge and Coulter Berry processes: what happened” says resistance arose because of confusion over the nature of the proposals and a failure to consult widely. The report was drafted for the mayor’s standing committee on public engagement, set up to overhaul communication with residents in the wake of last year’s bitter battle over increased housing density in the semi-rural Brookswood/Fernridge neighbourhood. After several public hearings, dominated by opponents of the plan, Township council voted it down at an April meeting, overriding the mayor and the only councillor who backed the proposal, Grant Ward (who lost his seat in the November election). The Whitelaw memo suggests the redevelopment of Willoughby into a high-density residential region cast a long shadow over the Brookswood/Fernridge planning process. The attempted overhaul of the 1987 community plan for Brookswood/Fernridge was the first since Willoughby, “where the experience has been decidedly mixed to date,” Whitelaw writes. Continued Page 5
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DAN FER GUS ON Langley Time s
Alisha Xue, 7, releases a Monarch butterfly at Krause Berry Farms in Langley on Saturday. More than 300 butterflies were purchased for $20 each and then released as part of a fundraiser for the Langley Lodge and Langley Hospice Society.
More than 300 Monarch butterflies fluttered into the air at Krause Berry Farms in Langley, Saturday afternoon. It was a fundraiser for Langley Hospice and Langley Lodge. Participants paid $20 each for a butterfly, bred locally by Langley resident Kim Sutton. Sutton was worried the heat wave could hurt the butterflies, if they were left to wait in their small carrying cases while they were being hand-held for simultaneous release. “You think it’s perfect weather, but in some ways, it’s worrying when it’s too hot,” she said. To ensure a safe release, people were allowed to set their butterflies free immediately upon receipt, sending them off in a flower garden at the entrance to the farm. Sutton began breeding Monarch butterflies in her basement as a hobby eight years ago. It’s blossomed into a business that provides the pretty fliers to “weddings, funerals and everything in between,” Sutton said. Funds raised from the butterfly release will allow the Langley Lodge to continue development of their therapeutic recreation programming in order to provide enhanced activities and therapies to residents and assist the Langley Hospice Society to expand the palliative care and grief support programs they offer free of charge.
Province must find funding for transit, Township mayor says DAN FER GUSON Tim es Reporter
JACK FRO ES E
The provincial government must find another source of funding for transit improvements now that voters have rejected a proposed sales tax increase, Township mayor Jack Froese told council during Mon-
day night’s regular meeting. “I’m as committed as ever to being a partner in building new transit and securing service improvement across the region and in Langley, but we will need the B.C. government to start coming to the table with new funding sources to meet that
need and prevent major service cuts,” Froese said during his regular mayor’s report. Afterwards, Froese told The Times that improvements to transit must be made. “It’ll happen in time,” Froese predicted. Continued Page 3