Editor: Brydon Lagoon truly is a jewel in Langley City — although at this point it appears to be somewhat of a tarnished jewel. Langley City’s chief administrator, Francis Cheung, says the city is aware of the problem, yet he offers no solutions.
Cheung claims that dredging is cost prohibitive and not an option. Where was Cheung’s fear of something being cost- prohibitive when McBurney Lane was under construction? Perhaps there should be some meaningful dialogue with the Langley Field Naturalists to at least explore this option.
There are those who have given little or no thought to the problem and who say the solution is to “simply pave over the lagoon.” The question is this: How can you pave over something that City staff says consists of at least two meters of sludge at the bottom? This would be comparable to trying to pave over Burns Bog. And who would even consider paving over this little bit of paradise?
Further in his comments to The Times, Cheung also says that Langley City staff cannot understand why the pumps keep “shutting off.” There is a simple solution to that: Fire the person responsible for pump maintenance and hire someone who can fix the problem.
If this was your backyard swimming pool, would you simply accept a repairman telling you that they “can’t figure it out,” or would you look for another repairman?
Brydon Lagoon is a beautiful natural setting in a city that is increasingly seeing more development and less preservation of its natural assets. Brydon Lagoon should be preserved as the natural benefit it is to the city. It should be considered the Lost Lagoon of Langley and Langley City staff needs to find some concrete solutions.
It is unacceptable to simply say, “it’s cost prohibitive and we don’t know how to fix the problem. Brydon Lagoon needs to be brought back to its 29-year history of beauty.
Tony Fuller,
Langley City
