Aldergrove Regional Park, which straddles the Langley-Abbotsford border, will now acquire 127 hectares of Abbotsford land.
That is, if the province agrees.
The local park is a part of the Metro Vancouver Regional Parks system, which “wanted to find a solution to continue operating (Aldergrove Regional Park) despite Abbotsford being outside of its boundaries,” said Aniz Alani, director of property risk management and legal services for the City of Abbotsford.
“Rather than having two different jurisdictions operate two parts of the park,” Alani said, the City of Abbotsford is similarly pushing for “Metro Vancouver to operate all of it.”
Which makes sense, considering 75 per cent of park visitors are residents from Metro Vancouver, Alani confirmed.
RELATED: Aldergrove Regional Park to be divided up by Abbotsford and Vancouver
The City of Abbotsford withdrew its membership from the Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD) board for park purposes in April last year.
Effectively, this allowed the City to enter into its own sub-regional parks system with the Fraser Valley Regional District.
That same year – in May – Metro Vancouver sold and transferred of all of its park land interests in Abbotsford to the City of Abbotsford, including the eastern 127-hectare portion of the Aldergrove Regional Park.
Metro Vancouver continues to own and operate the western portion of the Aldergrove Regional Park, according to Metro Vancouver spokesperson Kelly Sinoski.
READ MORE: Abbotsford City acquires half of Aldergrove Regional Park
The provincial government recently indicated that a targeted exception to the Local Government Act may be feasible to enable the MVRD to own and operate that portion of Aldergrove park located within the municipal boundary of Abbotsford, without the City having to be a participant in MVRD service.
The local park is a full section of 640 acres of land split down the middle by Abbotsford and Langley.
Within the eastern portion of Aldergrove Regional Park exists a children’s campground leased by the Elks Club of Canada, the Aldergrove Bowl, and a popular off-leash dog park that many Aldergrove residents frequent.
