LANGLEY Fashion Passion PAGE 14
WEDNESDAY January 27, 2016 • www.langleytimes.com
3
NEWS Suspicious Death
16
E N T E R TA I N M E N T New Generations
The
Great Divide
MIR ANDA GAT HE R C OLE Langley Time s
36 Avenue is now one of the dividing lines between Brookswood and Fernridge after Township council narrowly voted in favour of the change.
Fernridge, Brookswood are now considered separate areas after lengthy debate by Township councillors Monday afternoon MIRAN D A G AT H E R C O L E Ti me s Re po r t e r
The line has been drawn. Fernridge is now considered a separate area from Brookswood, with a border that starts at 196 Street and traces along 33A Avenue, up 200 Street to 36 Avenue, and then up 208 Street to 43 Avenue. Anything south of that — or essentially, the undeveloped rural areas — is now distinctly Fernridge.
The decision was not made easily by Township council, as councillors debated the issue for over an hour on Monday afternoon. The final vote to endorse the boundaries and have an engagement strategy squeaked by with only Councillors Charlie Fox, Blair Whitmarsh, Angie Quaale, Bob Long and Mayor Jack Froese in favour. The issue for several sitting at the council table was public conServing since 1968 24/7 Service to & from Van Intl. Airport
Langley Fort Cabs Cloverdale Whiterock Surrey
604-533-3333 604-882-2111 604-574-5311 604-536-7666 604-596-6666
www.pacificcabs.com • visit our website for pre booking
The issue of title and name of the area I think is a red herring and it’s throwing us all off. BLAIR WHITMARSH
sultation. Coun. Kim Richter said council needs “broad-based community input” before they can endorse
“ Your Community Connector” FREE APP
anything. “I really feel quite strongly about us endorsing this set of boundaries for Fernridge when we haven’t consulted with the public,” she said. “Public engagement was a priority for this council last year, it’s a priority for us this year, we should be putting our money where our mouth is. And if we really believe in public engagement, then this is — by gosh and by golly — the number one poster child for getting public engagement.” Richter made a motion to consult with the public before council moves forward on a boundary decision, which was subsequently
Your local one stop destination for quality baby products PROUDLY CANADIAN
$
19
SPORTS Hobey Hopefuls
47999
defeated. Only councillors Petrina Arnason, Michelle Sparrow and David Davis were in agreement. “We get public input on development permits — which is form, sighting and character — yet we’re going to make a hardline decision on a new community, and we’re saying we don’t need public input on it?” Sparrow said. “It’s boggling to me that we would even be dealing with this without ... (a) public input session.” Sparrow asked why council is endorsing the public engagement strategy for the Fernridge Community Plan, when they have yet to approve the Township-wide engagement strategy. “I think we’re putting the horse before the cart in several aspects to this, but most importantly I think that this is a major decision that we are making that needs to have public input, and I can’t see how we can move forward without that,” she said. Coun. Arnason asked if there are legal implications to reconfiguring boundaries within an existing Official Community Plan, to which CAO Mark Bakken replied, no. On the other side, several members of council felt the name debate was irrelevant. “This issue of title and name of the area I think is a red herring and it’s throwing us all off,” said Coun. Blair Whitmarsh. “We’re getting into debates and arguments about where a boundary might lie, when really we should begin to sit and talk about how do we want our community to look in that undeveloped space and move forward.” Whitmarsh noted that the area already calls for an additional 20,000 to 25,000 people to move in under the existing 1987 plan. These people cannot be accommodated in the developed Brookswood area, he said. “This is an opportunity for us now to take a 1987 plan, and to provide new planning principles to update it to consider environmental concerns (and) to consider traffic flow differently than we might have in 1987,” he said. “Why not allow us to have input into a new plan, a new vision for this area? “We know the undeveloped area
Thule Urban Glide Stroller
302, 6339 200th Street, Langley Crossing Shopping Center, Langley 604-427-4788 • Open 7 days a week • www.activebaby.ca
Continued Page 4