A winter, spring and early summer that brought higher than average rainfall triggered many landslides in B.C. Some proved deadly.
Noting that extreme weather conditions resulted in fatal mudslides, and that development in the Township has stripped many hillsides of trees, Councillor Kim Richter wants the municipality to assess the risk for mudslides which have the potential to harm people and damage property.
Strategies needed to identify areas that are at risk and measures needed to mitigate them lie at the core of a notice of motion Richter presented at the final public meeting before council’s summer break.
Richter presented several other notices of motion that call on council to consider:
* Traffic calming to protect pedestrians and cyclists on Billy Brown Road in the Bedford Landing community in Fort Langley;
* A household goods recycle/exchange depot at the Aldergrove Waste Transfer Station;
* Banning overnight parking of large commercial vehicles on 200 Street where they disturb residents;
* Locating licensed medical marijuana grow-ops in secured, indoor stand-alone facilities on industrial or agricultural land and removing them from residential zones where they put residents at risk and expose them to prolonged odours;
* Sustainability bylaws that would ensure new developments incorporate LEED certification, green roofs, living walls, permeable pavement, and plug-in recharging stations for electric cars.
* Remediation of the Gray Pit area in Glen Valley, as well as an inventory of endangered species,
* Strategies to halt the unauthorized use of converting accessory buildings such as garages to residential units, to reduce the stress on municipal resources including aquifers, recycling, garbage pickup, fire and policing services, as well as local schools, and
* Banning propane cannons, which are disruptive to area residents and animals, on the grounds that they are an excessive, intrusive, and inhumane way to control a pest problem.
In another notice, proposed by Councillor Steve Ferguson, council will be asked to formally support the retention of Langley as a single federal riding.
The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission has proposed splitting Langley to accommodate B.C.’s population growth.
Much of that growth is in the Lower Mainland and an additional seat has been recommended for Surrey. This new riding would be called Langley-Cloverdale and encompass the whole of Langley City and part of the Township lying south of 56 Avenue and west of 216 Street which incorporates parts of Murrayville, Brookswood and Fernridge.
The bulk of the Township would be renamed Fort Langley-Aldergrove, and stretch to Mount Lehman Road in Abbotsford.
