What should a future Langley City look like?
Residents will have their say in an online poll, set up to get input on possible changes that would add housing, allow taller buildings and make other changes to take advantage of the impending arrival of rapid transit.
It’s a follow-up to a “housing forms” workshop and open house held Friday, Nov. 27 and Saturday, Nov. 28 to shape a concept for future growth in the community, as a part of the City’s Official Community Plan (OCP) and zoning bylaw update process.
Aimed at broadening housing choices in the community and shaping growth around the future Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension, the two days saw residents, business owners, and community groups develop a new concept that emphasizes adding housing and a greater mix of uses like shops and offices surrounding the future SkyTrain stations.
Langley City Mayor Val van den Broek said the ideas “are preliminary and there’s still much more public engagement to do but it’s great to see the community thinking and re-imagining Langley City’s future into a more walkable, transit-oriented, sustainable and forward-thinking urban centre.”
“It’s very exciting,” van den Broek commented.
Residents can submit their comments and views on different topics and the growth concept to the “Future Growth Survey,” which can be accessed through the City of Langley website.
The online survey will be open until Jan. 31, and more public input opportunities will be available in the spring, a city press release said.
READ MORE: Langley City poll shows residents are (mostly) content
While the growth concept places most multi-family residential development north of the Nicomekl River, it also addresses decades-long population decline south of the Nicomekl by proposing to introduce a wider variety of ‘infill’ housing, such as coach homes and garden suites in the neighbourhoods north of Grade Crescent, and townhomes and row houses along 200 Street and 208 Street corridors, to support future rapid bus lines feeding into the new SkyTrain extension.
Another idea generated over the course of the two-day process is an “Innovation Boulevard” along Glover Road connecting the Langley City Hall area to the Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) district, to encourage new tech businesses, start-ups, and “maker” spaces, and foster relationships between industry, KPU and City Hall.
READ MORE: VIDEO: What does the SkyTrain mean for Langley? Public consultations begin
Translink recently announced where stations along the Fraser Highway corridor will be located, with one at Fraser Highway and 196 St., and another at the start of the line at Industrial Avenue and 203 St.
The concept envisions buildings in those areas that would be 15 storeys or more, and in order to serve the increased population, new parks, public spaces and community facilities would be planned as well.
For more information about the OCP and zoning bylaw updates project, residents can contact Carl Johannsen, Director of Development Services at 604.514.2815 or cjohannsen@langleycity.ca.
