[0:25] All right. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to another exciting evening of council agenda meeting.

[0:36] As we have a quorum, I will call the meeting to order. The time is 7.01, Tuesday, September

[0:43] 16. As always, I'd like to start off in a meeting in a good way by acknowledging that we're

[0:49] We are on the traditional uncivil territory, the VKC First Nation, and the Quantlin First Nation.

[0:55] Corporate officer.

[0:56] Thank you.

[0:57] Just to let everybody know that this meeting is being livestreamed and recorded and will

[1:01] be available on our website.

[1:03] Council meetings are the venue for debate and voting on city matters.

[1:07] For members of the public who would like to speak, there will be two opportunities to

[1:10] do so.

[1:11] Once during public comment on agenda items, which will be your opportunity to speak to any

[1:15] item scheduled this evening.

[1:17] and then once during public inquiry near the end of the meeting for anything that does

[1:22] not appear on tonight's agenda. Thank you.

[1:25] Thank you. First up is the approval of the agenda.

[1:28] Can I get a motion to move this item? Move by Councillor Dox, seconded by Councillor Doeze.

[1:34] Any additions or subtractions seeing done? Let's open up the vote on that, please.

[1:47] Excellent

[1:47] that is carried unanimously. Thank you.

[1:49] Moving on to the next item, can I get a motion to adopt the minutes from September 9, 2025?

[1:56] Moved by Councillor Schiller, seconded by Councillor Doeze, any error there are missions.

[2:02] Seeing done, let's open up the voting please.

[2:12] And that is carried unanimously. Thank you very much.

[2:15] Moving on to the next item, Corporate Officer.

[2:18] Thank you. The next item is delegations and this evening we have one delegation with

[2:23] Maple Ridge for safe technology, and there is a presentation.

[2:27] Okay, we will be presenting.

[2:32] Step on up.

[2:37] You have 10 minutes from when you start.

[2:41] There are the timer on the screen that you'll be able to see.

[2:51] I'm Chris Lovett. I'm at 1, 2, 3, 0, 2 Davis and

[2:54] Street Maple Ridge. I'm part of a local group called Maple Ridge

[2:58] for safe technology. Groups like these were created

[3:03] in cities across Canada and the U.S.

[3:06] I'm sorry, I'm just going to pause you for one moment.

[3:08] Yes.

[3:08] I'm just, just check that the microphone is on.

[3:12] Test?

[3:13] Oh, okay.

[3:14] Maybe, yeah, we'll move it closer to you.

[3:16] Yes, right.

[3:18] All right, and we'll add in a couple of extra seconds.

[3:21] Is that better?

[3:22] Yeah.

[3:22] Perfect.

[3:23] Sorry.

[3:24] Do you want me to start from scratch?

[3:25] Sure.

[3:26] Go ahead.

[3:26] We'll give you the extra time.

[3:28] Okay.

[3:28] Yep.

[3:29] My name is Chris Clvett, one, two, three, zero, two, Davis in Street, Maple Ridge BC.

[3:34] I'm a part of local group, Maple Ridge for safe technology.

[3:39] Groups like this, like these were created in cities across Canada and the US.

[3:46] People who were concerned about the cellular infrastructure,

[3:56] sorry, where do I direct this?

[3:59] Okay, yeah, tell us announced in the local paper on August 22nd that they wanted a cell tower to be placed at 219-03-128th Avenue, which happens to be just across the street from where another tower proposed by Rogers was denied in 2019.

[4:29] Tell us, mentions their open house on September 24th,

[4:48] so

[4:52] the

[5:00] Maple Ridge antenna sitting protocol

[5:05] where the city objectives include minimizing the number of towers and minimizing the visual

[5:14] impacts on the surrounding area.

[5:17] There are

[5:23] five different reasons for council to consider denying this cellular antenna application.

[5:30] Current coverage, possible decrease in property value, visual impact, and health concerns.

[5:41] Wireless coverage websites show things like the direction, the antenna is pointed, frequency

[5:50] be being admitted and the distance they transmit.

[5:58] So is this area in North Maple Ridge already covered?

[6:04] Here is a photo of an apartment building on Dooney Trunk and 220 seconds.

[6:12] And it happens to be pointing right at the same area as the proposed tell us tower.

[6:21] Here

[6:26] is another cell tower, two-sixteenth and one-twenty-fourth, which is also pointing at the same area as the proposed tower.

[6:35] And a third cell tower, operating at one-twenty-eighth and two-thirty-one, also is pointing at the same area as the proposed tower.

[6:49] So, four cell towers are pointing at the same area.

[6:56] A fourth cell tower is pointing at the same area.

[7:00] I don't have the slide showing there, but it's included in the printouts that you have.

[7:08] So, that's four in total covering the same area.

[7:18] Also, tell us, as you can see on the screen, tell us indicates

[7:21] rates, they have coverage way back into Golden Nairs Park.

[7:30] There's also the property value issue, according to various sources.

[7:35] Cell towers, emitting microwave radiation, could have an effect on the value of a property.

[7:43] Is this correct?

[7:45] Most homeowners, if this is correct, most home owners would not be happy to find out about this after a cell tower was installed.

[7:55] Here's

[7:59] an example in mission, the same applies to small cells as emissions are off the

[8:06] church when measuring RF levels such as this one.

[8:14] I'm just going to pause you for one second.

[8:17] Yes.

[8:17] We do have rules here, you can't really record.

[8:20] This is online anyways, so I would ask that you not be recording our proceedings, please.

[8:30] Okay.

[8:37] You may continue.

[8:38] Thank you.

[8:39] Thank you.

[8:40] And there's also this example in Maple Ridge, the business area and retirement homes close

[8:48] to City Hall here.

[8:49] Also with small cells, all of these are examples that could affect property value.

[9:04] Cell towers are an isoler, remember the Maple Ridge sitting protocols, minimizing the visual

[9:13] impact of the surrounding area,

[9:18] imagine the impact on tourism for more of these, as more

[9:24] of these cell towers blocking the beautiful view of Golden Eres Mountain.

[9:31] Here's another example of a tower just past mission, destroying the view of the mountain.

[9:40] There's also schools,

[9:45] which is another concern, such as Riverside Elementary, which was closed,

[9:49] Alewith Elementary and Thornhill also closed.

[9:57] Riverside was 600 meters from one salt hour and 800 meters from another.

[10:05] And they had a cancer cluster and the school was closed as I mentioned.

[10:11] Alewith is the closest school to the proposed salt tower in North Maple Ridge.

[10:17] It also had a cancer cluster in 2023.

[10:22] It was in the newspaper and is in direct path, as you can see on the map on the screen,

[10:32] of the cell tower that's downtown.

[10:36] If there is another cell tower placed in this area pointing at this school, will the risk

[10:43] increase?

[10:44] trees. Here we have Thornhill, which was closed in 2002, and it was on the same street

[10:53] as 4 cell towers on Grant Hill.

[10:59] The key point here is these towers can send microwave

[11:02] radiation up to six kilometers in this example, six kilometers of coverage. There is also

[11:12] So concerned about the effects on animals and plants, pictures from Europe, Germany,

[11:18] Italy, and from the USA.

[11:21] Just in the last few years, a lot of birds were found dead in various areas of the world

[11:28] and remember the media coverage of dying bees.

[11:35] Many pictures of trees damaged over time from nearby cell towers, as you can see on the

[11:46] right there.

[11:49] If trees are affected, could crops be affected? Farmers might want to research

[11:54] this more before agreeing to a cell tower installation, which applies to this proposed

[12:08] So tell us once to have an open house, all the cell companies seem to have them on a weeknight from 5 to 7 when people are really busy coming home from work.

[12:24] These kind of meetings are considered by many to be deceptive and misleading.

[12:31] Many refer to them as a dog and pony show, which refers to an

[12:45] event where highly promoted

[12:47] often over stage performances, presentations, and even their even design dissuade or convince

[12:54] opinion on political or less often commercial ends that's from Wikipedia.

[13:03] describing the dog in the corner show, industry hopes people won't bother to attend the

[13:10] open house, and the project can be completed and generate even more money.

[13:20] Some cell tower plans are set up to add more antennas.

[13:28] Even for other companies all on one cell tower, so it's possible for the cell tower as well.

[13:40] I believe the previous Rogers tower that was denied across the street was also set up for that.

[13:48] Sorry to interrupt you here.

[13:49] Yes, pretty much down to the wire, but I'll give you another 30 seconds to wrap up.

[13:53] Okay, well, there's many studies showing the health issues, health studies, I should say.

[14:08] I can't seem to get to the next slide, but anyway,

[14:16] yeah.

[14:17] So as you can see, there's various reasons for people being concerned about any additional

[14:27] So cell towers being placed in this part of Maple Ridge is it's covered already by all these other antennas that I was showing it.

[14:34] Thank you.

[14:36] Thank you very much for your presentation.

[14:41] A lot of interesting stuff that you have on there.

[14:45] At the stand right now, we actually don't have an application in from tell us at this point.

[14:49] I guess they're just doing their due diligence as they're supposed to be doing.

[14:54] But we don't actually have an application, and so there's nothing for us to at this point.

[15:00] Offer you or anything like that. When and if that time comes, and that's when council will be able to at least weigh in on what they want to do and how they want to do it and so on and so forth.

[15:13] I'll open it up for a council. Anybody have any questions or comments? Council do it. I don't have any questions. I appreciate the information being shared. I do just need to clarify a couple things.

[15:26] I was involved when Thornhill Elementary School closed and it closed due to declining

[15:31] enrollment back in the day.

[15:33] I was also involved in Riverside Elementary Cancer Cluster and was very involved in that

[15:41] and so I need it to be on the record that the school was not closed because of the cancer

[15:46] cluster.

[15:48] It was deemed the cancer cluster wasn't related to the school so I think it's important

[15:53] that it's on record. We went through a thorough investigation at the time, and I won't get into all the details, but it wasn't closed because of that. Again, I know it's hard to believe, but it was closed because of declining enrollment at the time in that area.

[16:13] So that was the rationale for both of those closures. And in fact, Riverside, although it's not Riverside Elementary,

[16:21] It continues to be open today and is where they have their college.

[16:25] Thank you.

[16:26] Thank you.

[16:27] Any other comments?

[16:30] Not seeing any.

[16:31] So once again, thank you very much for your presentation.

[16:34] Until we actually get an application, there's not much for us to consider at this point.

[16:40] And like I said, if it does come in, then that's when Council will address that matter,

[16:45] through whichever means we need to address it through.

[16:48] Okay.

[16:49] Thank you very much for coming in.

[16:55] Yeah, I said at this point, there is no application in from Tellus, so there's nothing for us to speak to.

[17:03] When and if that time comes, then Council can weigh whatever information is brought to us at that point.

[17:12] But at the stands right now, there's no application.

[17:15] There might not even be an application.

[17:17] That's what they're supposed to do.

[17:19] They're supposed to go out and engage.

[17:20] They're supposed to go out and do their due diligence and then there's other steps that come after that of them.

[17:26] I'm sure you all know.

[17:28] So until that such time, it's really nothing for us to do at that point.

[17:33] Okay, all right, thank you very much, and we're going to move on then, thank you.

[17:41] Next up is public comment on agenda items.

[17:44] Each speaker will have two minutes to speak to Council regarding items on the agenda.

[17:48] However, please note that items 8.7, 8.8 and 8.10 are not available for public comment as a public hearing has been prohibited on these items under provincial legislation.

[18:01] And item 8.9 is not available as a public hearing has already been held.

[18:06] I will, however, note that there is a concurrent development permit application, which is item 9.4 that you may speak to.

[18:18] So you can't really speak to the issues surrounding the zoning of the property, but you can speak to the development permit and variance permit.

[18:28] A second opportunity may be provided once all speakers in the queue have had an opportunity

[18:32] to speak.

[18:33] The total time allotted is 15 minutes.

[18:36] For those here in chambers, please come forward to the podium when the mayor calls for

[18:40] speakers.

[18:41] If you would like a second opportunity for public comment, please return to your seat until

[18:44] the mayor calls for a second round.

[18:46] For those participating electronically, please use the raised hand icon.

[18:50] And when you are called upon, please turn on your camera.

[18:53] Please clearly state your name, city of residents, and which item you're speaking to before beginning your comments.

[19:00] Again, this is your one and only opportunity to speak to items that are on the agenda before Council makes their decision this evening.

[19:08] Thank you.

[19:09] Thank you very much.

[19:10] And I notice we have a lot of people here, so we want to make sure because we only got 15 minutes.

[19:15] If there's people that want to speak to the delegation, that's fine.

[19:20] But I want to also make sure there's other people here that they also get their chance to speak to an agenda item

[19:26] So having said that I will open up the floor if there's anybody who wishes to step up to the podium

[19:31] Please do so state your name and your place of residence and you will have two minutes on the timer

[19:39] No, I'm not seeing anybody come on up

[19:43] Do anybody online?

[19:48] Okay,

[20:01] my name is Austin Russell and I live right here on two-twenty-fourth

[20:07] But before I live there, I lived on 22538 Royal Crescent.

[20:13] I grew up in that house and my family was renting it.

[20:18] Can you tell us what item you're speaking to?

[20:20] Yes, sorry, 9.4.

[20:22] 9.4, okay, thank you.

[20:24] I grew up in that house.

[20:26] My family was renting it since before I was even born and when we were evicted so

[20:34] that the homeless shelter could be built, we were okay with that because it served a greater

[20:40] purpose for the community. And I understand that the new residential development will also

[20:46] serve a purpose for the community. However, I am concerned that the project as designed

[20:53] will not suit the needs of low-income members of the community.

[20:59] Instead of granting whatever

[21:03] I asked that the city use its leverage and the permitting process to secure more affordable housing or render protections to better serve the community.

[21:13] That's all.

[21:14] Okay. Thank you very much.

[21:16] And I'll just add to this that this is a provincial project when they announce the modular housing for the unhoused.

[21:25] the intent was always to turn this into senior housing, and that's exactly where it's at right now.

[21:32] We have the city insured a 60-year rental agreement.

[21:40] 70% of those will be low income, more affordable, while 30% will be a market value.

[21:51] So it ends up, that's how you, these projects tend to make it through, so you have a balance of things like that.

[21:59] But so that's where it stands right now, and I'm sorry, I'm happy to hear it.

[22:07] Perfect, thank you for coming in, appreciate it.

[22:13] Okay, then anybody online that wishes to speak?

[22:15] I'm not seeing anybody, all right, let's call anybody in chambers that wants to speak.

[22:23] I'm seeing a hand up, come on down please.

[22:39] State your name, place of residence, and you'll have two minutes.

[22:42] My name is Milk Bowling, I live in Maple Ridge, and I've been involved with the

[22:49] electromagnetic fields and radiation for 28 years, as far as working with industry,

[22:56] working with city halls and working with the community to best locate cell towers that I got

[23:04] into it because my son's elementary school was going to have nine transmitters put on the roof

[23:10] and I knew about that because I used to sell the computer, the early computers for Xerox in

[23:17] 1977. So when I learned about EMF and the harms at that particular time in 1997 when they were

[23:24] I'm going to put nine transmitters on the roof

[23:27] for my son's elementary school.

[23:28] I won't wait a minute.

[23:29] That's my only son.

[23:32] I have some things to say.

[23:34] And I've continued to have some things to say.

[23:36] But I work with leading independent scientists

[23:44] around the world to compile information.

[23:49] I have over 25,000 published peer-reviewed studies

[23:52] on electromagnetic fields and adverse health effects.

[23:56] And I'm working with scientists and engineers and others

[24:02] in Washington DC to make the work on making the technology safer.

[24:12] But to work on making it safer, firstly, you have to acknowledge that it's not safe.

[24:17] It is bioactive, so I don't know how you folks work here, I've worked all over the lower

[24:24] mainland as far as working with various councils, I haven't done it here.

[24:28] But I wanted to know, do you require, seeing as it is bioactive and every scientist honestly

[24:37] on the planet will admit that, it is bioactive, that's why they have Health Canada has safety

[24:42] code 6 to regulate that, right?

[24:44] So given that, do you folks require informed consent?

[24:56] The proper way that it's always has been, if they follow safety code 6, that is set

[25:03] out by the health code, Canada Health, and that the telecoms have to do their due diligence,

[25:10] they have to put the notices out and so on and so forth.

[25:14] As a city, I don't believe that we require, but I don't want to be 100% and say yes or no.

[25:23] Again, if an application comes into us, that's likely some of the stuff that we would review at that time.

[25:30] Okay, so one last thing, put

[25:37] my glasses back on.

[25:45] There's one class action lawsuit on this whole issue in Montreal right now ongoing and hasn't been thrown out.

[25:54] There's three in Washington DC and that will cover Canada as well as the United States.

[26:01] So the reason I ask about privity chain is if those are completed and one is already

[26:09] been completed, then there's then there's monetary considerations that have to be paid out.

[26:20] They they that's the word for it.

[26:24] Yeah.

[26:24] Sorry.

[26:24] I'm going to have your you're over your time.

[26:27] Okay.

[26:28] But again, when that time comes.

[26:30] I mean, there's lots of reports around, there's lots of information that's flowing around

[26:37] through whether it be the internet or through other organizations, there's a lot of stuff

[26:42] to weigh through.

[26:43] But for today, thank you for being here and passing on your information, and we'll wait for

[26:51] the application to come in.

[26:52] Sure.

[26:53] Thanks.

[26:53] Thank you.

[26:57] Okay.

[27:02] Good evening.

[27:03] I'm Obli Ranta, 22015126 Avenue, topic proposed telecell tower.

[27:14] In 2019, my neighbors and I oppose the proposed Roger Cell Tower on 128 Avenue and stopped

[27:23] it.

[27:24] And now, in 2025, we oppose the proposed telecell tower on 128 Avenue.

[27:31] We are opposed to both of these towers because of the adverse health effects,

[27:36] Alzheimer's disease, brain, eye tumor, breast cancer, colon cancer, etc.

[27:40] To list a few. We are in close proximity and studies in Brazil, Israel, and Germany

[27:46] show a cancer rate increases up to 440 times higher within the 400 meters of a cell tower

[27:53] than beyond 1,000 meters. There are at least 10 people in my neighborhood who

[27:59] cancer survivors and I am one of them. This is a second time that we have to deal with

[28:06] the possibility of a cell tower in our neighborhood and this is extremely stressful and frustrating.

[28:14] The scientific community has proven that children are more vulnerable to the effects of exposure

[28:20] to radio frequency microwave radiation due to their thin skulls and developing brains.

[28:27] Allewit Elementary School is located in our neighborhood.

[28:31] The appraisal journal 2006 found that buyers would pay as much as 20% less for

[28:37] a property near a cell tower or antenna.

[28:41] We ask the mayor and council to veer on the side of caution to protect and

[28:46] ensure the health and safety of all citizens and place health above money.

[28:53] Thank you.

[28:55] Thank you for your time.

[28:57] Thank you for your comments, appreciate it.

[28:59] Okay, I think we have time for one more, anybody else?

[29:03] We've got one more.

[29:17] State your name, your place of residence, and you will have two minutes.

[29:22] And which item are you speaking to?

[29:31] Okay.

[29:32] Part of the delegation.

[29:34] Okay, my name is Farron Lander, and I've been an electromagnetic field consultant now for over 15 years.

[29:42] So what I'm going to talk about right now is the biological impact of the frequency generated by the cell phone towers.

[29:51] So you'd think that there would be lots of scientific information available and it's not quite true.

[30:00] But I cited out a couple here to show you. And one of them is called the bio-initiative report, which was done in 2007. And in that study, they used 12 scientists and 2000 peer-reviewed replicated studies. And they were shocked when they discovered that this technology was contributing to childhood, childhood and adult leukemia.

[30:29] various forms of cancer, neurological disorders, ALS, autism, anxiety, sleep disorders, etc.

[30:38] So they waited for a few years and five years later in 2012 what they did was they added

[30:45] another 1800 studies and they went to 29 scientists and guess what? They came up with exactly the

[30:55] same results, only it was moving faster. So you would think that there would be some

[31:03] Board of Education, City Council's factories, places where they use a lot of wireless

[31:09] technology to look and see if there's any safety standards. And what they found was that

[31:16] health Canada had put together something called safety code 6, which I think Milton mentioned

[31:21] in the briefly and maybe Chris did as well.

[31:23] And in that safety code six,

[31:28] which is over 40 years old,

[31:31] and is not taken to consideration

[31:33] the advancement and technology using radio frequency radiation.

[31:38] So you could be looking not only at Wi-Fi,

[31:42] Wi-MAX, cell towers, et cetera.

[31:46] And safety code six only applies

[31:48] to what's called ionizing radiation, which is the same as the sun and x-rays.

[31:56] No standard set up for, I mean, just get you to wrap it up because we're over time.

[32:00] If you can wrap it up very briefly, we're over time.

[32:03] Yeah.

[32:04] So I just want to mention, the last thing I want to mention is what, how long has this been known?

[32:09] And it started in the 50s with the U.S. Navy found out that a lot of the radar technicians

[32:15] We're developing cancer in the same locations and this information was passed on to a colleague of mine, Dr. Magda Havis, and she coined a phrase called electoral hypersensitivity, which basically is an allergic reaction to radio frequency.

[32:32] Okay, thank you.

[32:34] Thank you very much for your information as well.

[32:36] And thank you for being here today and sharing that with us.

[32:40] Okay, I believe our 15 minute one more, we have time for one more.

[32:47] Told we have time for one more if anybody else wishes to come up and speak to an item on the agenda, nobody's online.

[32:56] No, all right, well then we are, we're going to move on then.

[33:01] Corporate officer, where are we?

[33:03] Thank you.

[33:04] Next up is item seven, the consent agenda.

[33:07] There are three items on the consent agenda this evening.

[33:10] the recommendation is on your screen.

[33:16] Thank you very much.

[33:20] Okay. Can I get a motion to move the consent agenda moved by Councillor Dewey, seconded

[33:25] by anybody? Councillor Dozey. Any questions or comments?

[33:32] Councillor Carreras. Just quickly, just on the council expenses,

[33:36] the last page which has everybody on one list is just missing. A couple of Councillors,

[33:40] I think it was just partially just noting it I mean everything's in there broken down it's just

[33:47] it there's a few missing at the end. What's missing at the end? Just for it has all of them in one

[33:52] document it's only showing four councillors. Oh yeah I mean the breakdowns are up above when it shows

[33:58] the totals it only has four councillors. Again it's not a big deal because everything's listed above

[34:02] I just want to flag that it was missing so thanks. We will circulate that to council. Okay

[34:10] Seeing no other commentary, we will put that up to vote.

[34:14] Thank you for bringing that to our attention.

[34:36] And that carries unanimously.

[34:37] Thank you very much, moving on to the next item, please.

[34:40] Thank you, the next section of the agenda is by-laws.

[34:43] Item 8.1 is the Parking Reserve Establishment By-law, number 8020-2025, which expands the scope of uses and

[34:52] company seeing active forms of transportation for use of the fund, and this viola is before council this evening for adoption.

[35:00] Thank you. Can I get a motion to move this item, please?

[35:04] Move by Councillor Schiller, seconded by Councillor Tanne. Any comments or questions?

[35:09] We've already debated this in past sessions, so any comments or questions? Seeing none, I'll just add I do like this because it allows us to expand.

[35:22] and the use of those parking where there are funds for active transportation and bicycle lanes and so on and so forth.

[35:28] So, all right, voting is open and

[35:36] then it's carried unanimously.

[35:37] Thank you very much.

[35:39] Moving along.

[35:40] The next item is the Official Community Plan 2025 Housing Update.

[35:46] And this is updates to chapters one, two, and three of the Official Community Plan to align with the province's local government housing framework and new housing legislation.

[35:54] This is before Council this evening. There are three separate resolutions or three resolutions within one. So one vote.

[36:07] One vote. Okay. Can I get a motion to move this item, please?

[36:12] Move by Councillor Doe. Seconded by Councillor Ten. Any comments on this?

[36:24] Just to share with the community that last week, last Tuesday, the home merging together

[36:31] for me now, last Tuesday there was an extensive report on the OCP as well as the next couple

[36:36] of area plans that we're going to go through and I encourage the community to log into

[36:40] last week's committee of the whole and take a look at them.

[36:43] I think it's important to review them and hear what was said in the presentation.

[36:47] I also just want to be clear that this is a partial update to the OCP based on the housing needs report that was tabled, and the reason it's for me that I'm okay with the partial opening of it is because we are sort of mandated by a deadline from the province, and the deadline given to us by the province does not allow for the community to have proper input.

[37:16] I do think at some point we do need to have a larger review over OCP, but I do acknowledge that this timeline was enforced on us by the province, so I just want to share with the community that I know we've heard from a lot of the community they want to take a look at this, and I agree with that there are some bigger things we need to look at as a community, but we just don't have the time to do that now because of the timelines from the province. Thank you.

[37:43] Thank you. Any further commentary? Councillor Dewey.

[37:49] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I actually concur with what Councillor

[37:53] Quarters is saying. And I do really want there was a lot of time and effort that staff put

[37:59] in to make this happen under such a tight timeframe. And I really appreciate that the work behind

[38:08] the scenes and in particular, the markup that was provided to us so we could see what

[38:14] those changes, some of them were minor, but most of it, as Councillor Crier said, is all

[38:18] about complying with the provinces' changes. And I know that staff really had to work hard

[38:26] to accomplish that. So I think it's important that we recognize that, which I know we all did

[38:31] at the at the committee of the whole. And there's a number of things that we raised at committee

[38:37] the whole of that will still come. So, you know, when I raise the regional context

[38:42] statement, like, there's still work to be done. So, this is the important piece to meet

[38:48] the province's requirements and then we will continue on through that work.

[38:52] And I think the other really important piece is the official community plan is a living document.

[38:58] We often make updates with the official community plan. So, we will continue to do that into

[39:05] the future because as things change, as we find whether it's the province or the feds or our

[39:11] needs within the community, we have that ability to change the official community plans. So

[39:17] that's it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any further comments? Seeing none, let's open up the

[39:23] voting please.

[39:30] And as carried unanimously, thank you very much. Moving on to the next item, please.

[39:34] Thank you.

[39:35] The next four items are all official community plan area updates to address the change in

[39:42] legislation.

[39:43] I will introduce them all, but we'll not get into the specifics.

[39:47] First one is the town-centered area plan update.

[39:50] Again, there are three separate components to the resolution, which is on your screen.

[39:56] Thank you very much.

[39:57] Can I get a motion to move this item?

[39:58] Move by Councillor Schiller, seconded by Councillor Tan.

[40:00] Again, comments, questions?

[40:04] Pretty much the same as the last motion that we had.

[40:09] This is just setting everything up in line with what the new provincial regulations are.

[40:16] So, Councillor Cress.

[40:19] A quick question.

[40:20] So this is setting it to public hearing.

[40:21] do we know when the public hearing might might roughly be held on these pieces?

[40:33] Thank you. Come on down. I know with the new legislation there are so many things

[40:39] that the community no longer has the ability to comment on and this is something

[40:43] they can still comment on so if we can let them know that there is the opportunity that

[40:48] Great. Good evening, Mayor and Council. So for the four amendments that we're about

[40:53] to go through, the first three will likely see public hearing in mid-November or December

[41:02] because we are about to begin the referral process. There is some uncertainty on the timing

[41:06] because, of course, we have to work with our partners. For the fourth one, that I'll be in

[41:11] one and I'm happy to repeat it when we get to that item, that one will likely see public

[41:17] carrying in October, so it'll be in a couple of weeks.

[41:19] Because there's more work has been done recently, okay.

[41:21] Thank you very much, just so the community is aware.

[41:24] Thank you, appreciate it.

[41:24] Thank you, any other further comments?

[41:27] Seeing none, let's open that up, promoting.

[41:37] And as carried unanimously, thank you very much.

[41:39] Moving on to the next item, please.

[41:41] Thank you. The next item is the Hammond Area Plan Update,

[41:46] by line number 8057-2025, three components to the resolution on your screen.

[41:51] Thank you. Can I get a motion to move this item? Move by Councillor Dox seconded by Councillor

[41:58] Ten. Any comments or questions? Seeing none. Let's open that up for voting as well.

[42:10] And that is carried unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to the next item, please.

[42:15] Next is the Silver Valley area plan. Again, three components on the resolution which is on your screen.

[42:21] Thank you. Can I get a motion to move this item, please? Move by Councillor Dox, seconded by

[42:25] Councillor Schiller, comments? Seeing none, again, same thing as previous ones. Let's open

[42:33] up the voting.

[42:40] And that is carried unanimously. Thank you.

[42:43] Next up is the Albion Area Plan update. Similar changes, but this one is before you this

[42:49] evening for second reading and to be forwarded to a public hearing with three components in

[42:54] the resolution on your screen. Thank you. Can I get a motion to move the

[42:57] I'm excited to move by Councillor Doze, seconded by Councillor Ten.

[43:01] Comments, questions?

[43:03] Being done, let's open up the voting, please.

[43:12] Excellent, carried unanimously.

[43:15] Moving on to the next item, please.

[43:17] Item 8.7 is application 2022-121-RZ.

[43:23] For properties located at 10606 and 10616, Jackson Road, to rezone from single detached rural residential

[43:31] to single detached intensive urban residential to permit the future subdivision of approximately 24 lots before council this evening for adoption.

[43:42] Thank you. Can I get a motion to move the item, please, moved by Councillor Doik. Seconded by Councillor Doe.

[43:50] Comments, questions? Again, we saw this last week at Committee of the whole. So seeing them more commentary on this one, let's open it up for voting.

[43:59] That

[44:09] is carried unanimously.

[44:10] Thank you very much.

[44:12] Moving on to the next item, please.

[44:14] Next one is application 2024-188-RZ for property located at 1-1089-240th Street.

[44:22] To rezone from single detached rural residential to low density townhouse residential and single detached infill urban residential.

[44:30] To allow for future construction of a townhouse development with 153 markets

[44:35] strata dill dwelling units and a future subdivision creating three R4 lots.

[44:46] Notice of Council consideration of the bylaw was posted in the September 5th and 12th editions

[44:50] of the newspaper and was mailed to all parcels within a 50 meter radius of the subject property.

[44:57] 241 notices were mailed, zero correspondence.

[45:00] Council was received. This is before Council this evening for first, second, and third reading. Excellent. Thank you. Can I get a motion move this item, please? Move by Councillor Doze.

[45:13] Seconded by Councillor Kerrera's. Any comments or questions? Councillor Kerrera's. Thank you. This is another one that this morning we dealt with, and so there was a good presentation on what this looks like.

[45:28] I know that, you know, we talk about this as a land use, and as a land use, this makes sense, and I think it's good for a community in particular we need lots of three and four bedroom spaces for families, and this is a perfect family space.

[45:44] I know that we are next week meeting with a couple of ministers to talk about the infrastructure needed within the community, although we don't control schools, we're doing everything we can to help support school expansion.

[45:54] We'll be meeting with the minister as well as the ministry of health as well to talk about some of the hospital needs to be able to support this.

[46:02] On a local piece, I just want to continue to flag for staff that we'll need to continue to reassess and look at 240 as three.

[46:11] I understand from this morning that there'll be some infrastructure upgrades at 110 and 240 as there is the public park that's going to be part of this as well.

[46:23] Well, it is a well-use space and I just want to make sure that we're supporting and that we do have the parking availability for the community along 240th because it is, it is densifying a lot.

[46:37] Thank you.

[46:38] Any other comments?

[46:40] Seeing none, let's open up the voting please.

[46:52] Excellent.

[46:52] that carried unanimously moving on to the next item.

[46:56] Well, I actually know my apologies.

[46:58] We're going to step back to 8.7 for a moment.

[47:00] There was a road closure by law accompanying the rezoning

[47:04] on Jackson Road, so that item is on your screens.

[47:08] Did we miss that one?

[47:11] There was an amendment to the,

[47:13] or an addendum put out to the agenda.

[47:16] Right.

[47:17] OK.

[47:19] Can I get a motion to move this item, please?

[47:21] Please move by Councillor Dewey, seconded by Councillor Schiller, open it up for comments

[47:25] or questions.

[47:27] Seeing none, let's vote on that one, please.

[47:36] That is carried unanimously.

[47:37] Thank you very much.

[47:40] Now we move on to the next item.

[47:42] Thank you.

[47:42] 8.9 is application 2022-250-RZN for property located 22538 Royal Crescent to re-designate

[47:52] the subject property to low rise apartment and rezone to medium density apartment residential

[47:57] to permit the construction of a six-story residential apartment with 98 rentals dwelling units.

[48:04] This contains three bylaws, the official community plan amendment, the zone amendment, and

[48:09] the housing agreement bylaw that are all before Council this evening for adoption, as well

[48:14] as a endorsement by Council to accept without prejudice a letter of indemnity in lieu of

[48:22] Security deposits as outlined in the final reading report,

[48:25] and this will be for separate votes.

[48:28] Excellent, thank you very much.

[48:30] We're going to take it one by one.

[48:31] Can I get a motion to move the first item, please?

[48:34] Move by Councillor Doe, second by Councillor Tan,

[48:37] any comments or questions?

[48:40] Seeing none, let's vote please.

[48:49] That is carried unanimously.

[48:51] Thank you.

[48:51] We're going to move on to the second item,

[48:53] which is the housing agreement.

[48:58] Can I get a motion move this item please?

[49:02] Moved by Councillor Doe, they're seconded by Councillor Tann.

[49:05] Any comments or questions?

[49:07] Seeing none.

[49:07] Councillor Tann.

[49:10] Thank you, Mayor.

[49:10] I just wanted to say the aye in reference to the speaker that came out previously and then

[49:15] just to add to your comments.

[49:16] I think this is a really good new story where does it say much needed seniors housing provided

[49:22] by BC housing, and just to again to add to your comments, you know, 49 units are rent

[49:27] gear due income, and 20 units are provided with deep subsidies. And this is housing

[49:32] we rarely see, and I think this is an incredible good news story for our community just, and

[49:36] so badly needed for seniors. So, I'm very happy to vote yes to all these items.

[49:42] Thanks, Mayor. Thank you. Any further commentary? Seeing none, let's open up the voting place.

[49:48] That

[49:55] is carried unanimously. Thank you.

[49:57] Moving on, please.

[50:03] Corporate officer.

[50:04] Thank you. OCP, bye-law.

[50:07] Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm done.

[50:10] It must be sleeping long day.

[50:13] Can I kind of motion to move this third item, please?

[50:17] Move by Councillor Schiller, seconded by Councillor Tann,

[50:20] in comments on this one.

[50:22] Seeing none, let's open up the voting.

[50:29] and that is carried unanimously and we're going to move to the last one. I'm going to bypass you there.

[50:37] Can I get a motion to move the last item please?

[50:40] Move by Councillor Carrera, seconded by Councillor Doezy. Any comments or questions?

[50:47] None? See none? Let's open up the voting. Excellent.

[50:52] And that is carried unanimously. Thank you.

[50:57] Thank you.

[50:57] All right.

[50:58] Back to you.

[51:00] Next is item 8.10, application 2024-140-RZ for property located at 11138 Lockwood Street,

[51:09] to rezone from single detached rural residential to low density townhouse residential, to allow

[51:14] for future townhouse development with 131 market-stradded dwelling units.

[51:20] Zoning by-law number 8024 2025 is before Council this evening for adoption.

[51:25] Thank you. Can I get a motion to move this item? Move by Councillor Doick, seconded by Councillor

[51:30] Tann. In comments or questions? Seeing none, let's open up the voting and

[51:50] that is carried

[51:51] unanimously. Thank you. Moving right along.

[51:57] Final by-law for consideration this evening. Item 8.11 is application 2024-2027, sorry, not

[52:05] application. It's the 2024-2027 Property Tax Exemption Amending Biola, number 8072-2025,

[52:14] to amend the Amending Biola to reflect a change from the Highway Church to the Sunrise

[52:20] Full Gospel Church. And this is before Council this evening for first, second, and third reading.

[52:26] Thank you. Move by Councillor Doe. Seconded, but you preempted me there. Seconded by Councillor

[52:34] other careers. And of course, this one we saw, it's a church that already has the exemption,

[52:43] and they're just changing their name, so transferring that over to the new name. Any commentary?

[52:49] None? The none? We'll open up the voting, please.

[52:59] Excellent. That is Gary, unanimously. We're

[53:01] chugging along nicely. Corporate officer. Item 9.1 is application 2024-140-BP.

[53:10] P slash DP for a development variance permit and development permit at 11138 Lockwood Street to permit the addition of 29 townhouse units to the previously approved 102 units with variances to the building setbacks maximum building projection setback maximum number of townhouse units and minimum maneuvering aisle the requirement for notice of the development variance permit was met by delivering a notice to all owners and tenants of the parcel and all parcels adjacent

[53:39] adjacent to the subject property on August 22, 2025.

[53:43] 12 notices were mailed.

[53:45] No correspondence was received.

[53:48] Excellent, thank you very much.

[53:49] Can I get a motion to move this item, please?

[53:52] Move by Councillor Doze.

[53:53] Seconded by Councillor Doik.

[53:57] Any comments or questions on this item, please?

[54:01] Not seeing any.

[54:03] Then let's open up the voting.

[54:12] And then as carried unanimously, thank you.

[54:17] All right.

[54:19] Item 9.2, which is a development variance permit on 240th Street, has been withdrawn from

[54:26] this evening's agenda and will be rescheduled to a future regular council meeting to be determined.

[54:32] And item 9.3, development and development, variance permit on Jackson Road, has been withdrawn

[54:38] from this evening's agenda and rescheduled to the October 14th, 2025 regular council meeting,

[54:44] and new notices will be sent.

[54:48] Next is item 9.4, application 2022-250-BP-slashDP for property located at 22538 Royal Crescent

[54:59] to permit the construction of a six-story residential apartment building with 98 rental dwelling units

[55:04] with requested variances to the lot setbacks, retaining wall height and off-street parking.

[55:10] The requirement for notice of the variance permit was met by delivering a notice

[55:14] to all owners and tenants of the parcel and all adjacent parcels to the subject property on August 22nd.

[55:21] 122 notices mailed, zero correspondence received.

[55:25] Excellent, thank you.

[55:26] Can I get a motion to move this item, please?

[55:28] Moved by Councillor Schiller, seconded by Councillor Doddy.

[55:31] Comments or questions?

[55:34] Councillor Carreras.

[55:38] We did get an email around questions around the parking and so I just wanted to clarify for the community

[55:45] because they weren't able to hear the response to this.

[55:48] So there was concerns around the reduction in parking and it was explained to us and

[55:54] maybe staff can do a much better job of it than I could right now.

[55:57] That the need is definitely less for this type of building, and

[56:01] particular seniors have less parking and so just confirming with staff that the reduction is in line with what is required for a housing of this type.

[56:13] Thank you, Mr. Stiver.

[56:15] Thank you, your worship through you.

[56:17] That's correct.

[56:18] The applicant did do a traffic and parking analysis that was part of this project.

[56:24] Typically, developments that have seniors housing demands a less parking and it's been proven across the lower mainland.

[56:31] And so we supported that reduction on that basis.

[56:35] Great. Thank you. Metro Vancouver also did a really great parking study a couple of months ago

[56:40] that's public as well now. And then the other piece I just wanted to ask for because we've reduced the

[56:46] visitor parking, which is a bit concerning for me. Do we take into account increased health services

[56:56] visiting the building because it's a senior's building? Does that come into play at all?

[57:02] Through your, your worship in terms of site design, is that we're thinking Councillor

[57:07] Kraer's?

[57:08] Yeah, so there's a reduction of visitor parking, but sometimes in a senior's care, there

[57:15] might be more home support coming to support seniors maintaining, like, living in their

[57:22] houses, which this is, it's their home.

[57:25] And do we need to consider parking for increased health care providers attending this phase?

[57:34] Through your worship, that's not typically a consideration of a parking traffic study.

[57:40] There is sufficient visitor parking on the site.

[57:43] They're given its location in the town center.

[57:45] There's also street options around for visitors to come to the site.

[57:49] but no special consideration was given to support health supports or things like that for that purpose in particular.

[58:00] But we're satisfied that there's enough public parking available either on the street or on the site that could accommodate that.

[58:09] Thank you. And it also says within the report for the community that due to the location of the property,

[58:16] It's very accessible to grocery stores, shopping, entertainment, it's right in the downtown

[58:22] core, so seniors can access things without a vehicle.

[58:24] And transit options.

[58:26] And transit, thank you.

[58:27] Yes, with the BRT that's coming, it's going to be even better, right?

[58:30] Anyhow, I just wanted to flag that because the community had raised that today in an email

[58:33] and I wanted to make sure they were able to hear that this was something that was thought

[58:37] of and because it's a different building makeup and not so much like a regular apartment

[58:42] building that the parking needs are of a different requirement.

[58:45] So, thank you.

[58:46] Yeah, just to add to that, typically providers like medicine shop will go into an established

[58:54] instrument and make sure they take their pills, but they're in, they're out in 15 minutes.

[58:59] Same with Frazier Health, that's part of the home supports.

[59:02] They're not there all day long, they're just in and gone in a very short time, they move

[59:07] on to the next one and the next one.

[59:09] So, yeah, it'll be something that we should keep an eye on down the line, but appreciate

[59:14] I appreciate your answers.

[59:16] Any further commentary?

[59:18] Nope, let's open it up for voting.

[59:27] Excellent, that is carried unanimously.

[59:29] Thank you.

[59:30] Moving on.

[59:33] Thank you.

[59:33] Next up is item 9.5, which is the Rise Project

[59:38] and First Update, which was a city-led community-powered

[59:41] initiative that reduces youth vulnerability

[59:43] and promotes resilience through a coordinated,

[59:46] trauma-informed approach grounded in three pillars

[59:49] of intervention, prevention, and community engagement.

[59:53] And the resolution is on your screen.

[59:56] Excellent. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to move this item, please?

[59:59] Move by Councillor Cooke.

[1:00:05] I'm sure somebody's going to have a comment here on this one. This is a great opportunity for our community. Going back three years ago, we advocated to the federal government for funding, and they provided us with 1.6 million over four years to do a program.

[1:00:29] the state of the state.

[1:00:29] So, we're going to have to

[1:00:29] keep the kids off the streets.

[1:00:31] How do we engage with it with

[1:00:33] young people so that they're not

[1:00:35] following into the same

[1:00:36] traps and what ended up as a

[1:00:40] complete pilot project has been

[1:00:45] extremely successful.

[1:00:47] The results are something that

[1:00:49] should be shared and we will be

[1:00:51] sharing this with the federal

[1:00:52] government because I know that

[1:00:54] funding runs out next year, so we will be working on that.

[1:00:59] But this is what happens when you have RCMP, BIA, Chamber,

[1:01:07] BILOS, CSOs, and everybody all working together.

[1:01:13] You know, this is the end result is, you know, we talk about some of the challenges that most cities have with unhoused folks.

[1:01:21] That's something that's difficult to deal with.

[1:01:25] But we should be able to stop that pipeline from being filled up with our youth.

[1:01:30] And here's an example of something that is very successful and

[1:01:33] demonstrated that they can do that.

[1:01:36] So this is exciting news and we hopefully can get more funding to keep that program going.

[1:01:44] Any comments or questions other than what I said, counter-grayers?

[1:01:49] Sorry, it was really hoping we'd get a third time at that presentation, Judy, and I got

[1:01:54] to see the last week at a committee meeting because it really is fantastic.

[1:01:58] So in all seriousness, for the community that's joining us, I encourage every single one

[1:02:01] of you to look at committee of the whole from this morning and check out the entire report

[1:02:06] and the work that is being done in the success of that report.

[1:02:09] It is the first of its kind in BC and it really shows that when we have such innovative

[1:02:16] of departments like your school district

[1:02:20] and your RCMP in the city coming together

[1:02:23] in a collaborative approach.

[1:02:25] What they can do is quite exceptional.

[1:02:28] I do want to, some of the things that it showed

[1:02:30] in the report is a 71% decrease in police hours

[1:02:34] with youth, which is significant.

[1:02:36] An increased school completion rate,

[1:02:38] and this is all in a short really two year span

[1:02:41] that they've been able to accomplish this.

[1:02:44] And, you know, I'll say it again,

[1:02:45] Because I'm going to say it as many times as I can, any time you can invest in youth, it is a good thing.

[1:02:51] And this project shows firsthand what happens when you invest in youth.

[1:02:57] If you want to change the trajectory of your community or the trajectory of someone's life,

[1:03:02] taking the time, listening to them and investing in them when their younger can make a significant difference.

[1:03:09] We do have some real funding concerns that we're going to need to have to look towards and how we support that.

[1:03:16] I know the mayor said that he was going to share the results with the federal government.

[1:03:21] Is there anything else that you need from us?

[1:03:24] If you can, it doesn't have to be tonight, but come back to us if we need to support you in any letter writing or

[1:03:30] lobbying or calling up anybody at the federal government to really,

[1:03:35] We really bring home the importance of this project.

[1:03:39] Please let us know if we can support you, and well, I can only talk for me, but I would

[1:03:44] be very, very willing to do anything to find support amongst Council to give you the support

[1:03:51] to go advocate for this.

[1:03:54] Perhaps if you would like to put forward a motion to staff to summarize all of this and send

[1:04:02] to the federal government to apply for a new new funding.

[1:04:06] Happy to do that.

[1:04:08] Okay.

[1:04:11] Now we look at you.

[1:04:18] Just take a moment.

[1:04:20] Basically we're just instructing staff to prepare a report

[1:04:26] and to go ahead and start working on

[1:04:30] the application for the new funding for next year.

[1:04:35] Yeah, and for the community joining us today,

[1:04:36] make it to the end of the presentation because there's a video from the youth that have been

[1:04:42] impacted in a very

[1:04:44] positive way by this by this project and they speak from their heart. It's a very emotional video

[1:04:51] and a very powerful video so I think we should take their words and listen and do what we can to support

[1:04:59] them. Thank you. Can we vote on this while you're working on that? No?

[1:05:06] That's what I heard.

[1:05:09] We can vote on it.

[1:05:11] Okay.

[1:05:13] Should we vote on the first motion, please?

[1:05:17] I think I'm rubbing off on you guys.

[1:05:19] I just grow everywhere.

[1:05:27] Excellent.

[1:05:27] That is carried unanimously.

[1:05:29] And now we have a second motion that staff

[1:05:31] summarized all the information and report

[1:05:32] to apply for federal funding to continue the rise project.

[1:05:36] Can I get a motion to move that item, please?

[1:05:38] is moved by Councillor Carrera, seconded by Councillor Deweyk.

[1:05:42] No further commentary?

[1:05:45] Oh, yep, yep, yep, go for it.

[1:05:47] Yeah, thank you very much, Your Worship.

[1:05:50] As a matter of fact, I think I have a personal attachment to that presentation that was made

[1:05:54] in the morning.

[1:05:56] Aero happens to be one of the kids I coached in soccer, and the father has shown a lot of concern.

[1:06:02] The young man that was on that video, the father was shown a lot of concern.

[1:06:06] and only the last, what event was it, he was given an award.

[1:06:12] And the father ran to me and said, you better come and see, come and see, come and see

[1:06:15] that his body is making it now.

[1:06:17] And I when I saw him receive that everybody, the father was very, very happy.

[1:06:22] I'm just trying to say this to emphasize the fact that this particular program has a human face.

[1:06:31] It affects both the fathers, the coaches and people who have relationship with this in the

[1:06:36] So on this note, I want to say that I'm supporting this motion wholeheartedly and I would like us to do whatever we can to make sure that this project continues because it is very, very important to our community.

[1:06:51] Thank you.

[1:06:52] Perfect. Thank you very much.

[1:06:54] Seeing no other further commentary, do we not, I need a mover in a second. I thought we did.

[1:07:01] We have one.

[1:07:01] Let's say that there.

[1:07:06] Okay, now you can vote.

[1:07:15] And that is carried unanimously.

[1:07:17] Thank you very much.

[1:07:18] And moving on to the next item.

[1:07:21] Thanks, as item 9.6,

[1:07:24] taking our continuous improvement culture to the next level.

[1:07:27] And this was an update on successful projects

[1:07:29] in the continuous improvement center of excellence

[1:07:32] for Q3 2025 resolution is on your screen.

[1:07:36] Thank you.

[1:07:37] Can I get a motion move this item, please?

[1:07:38] move by councilor, to executive by councilor Schiller, again continuous improvement is the way that

[1:07:47] we work with the city, the staff, management, all working together to always strive for better.

[1:07:59] And when that happens, when you empower your team, it's not run by one person.

[1:08:06] It's run by everybody, and that's the one city approach, right?

[1:08:11] One person will never have all the answers.

[1:08:14] Put them in a room full of people who are motivated and excited and just want to get stuff

[1:08:20] done.

[1:08:21] Now you're going to get a whole bunch of opportunities that we didn't even think of.

[1:08:27] So what started as off three years ago as one of our strategic priorities, let the staff

[1:08:34] We have run with it, they ran with it, and the result is where we are today, so if you get a chance to look at that presentation, anybody else want to comment on that?

[1:08:46] Nope. All right. Good. Excellent. Let's vote on it.

[1:08:57] Excellent. Thank you very much. I just carried unanimously.

[1:09:03] Moving right along.

[1:09:10] Corporate officer.

[1:09:10] Yes, sir.

[1:09:11] Sorry.

[1:09:12] Next up is the Public Inquiry section.

[1:09:16] Each speaker will have two minutes to speak to Council.

[1:09:19] Input or comments are not permitted on items that are subject to public hearing or public

[1:09:23] hearing that has been prohibited, as mentioned at the beginning of the meeting.

[1:09:27] As a reminder, those are items 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, and 8.10.

[1:09:34] A second opportunity may be provided once all speakers in the queue have had an opportunity

[1:09:39] need to speak, the total time allotted for public inquiries 10 minutes.

[1:09:43] For those here in Council Chambers, please come forward to the podium when the Mayor calls for speakers.

[1:09:47] If you would like a second opportunity, please return to your seat until the Mayor calls for a second round.

[1:09:52] And I know we do not have any public online.

[1:09:55] So those coming forward, please clearly state your name and city of residence before beginning your comments.

[1:10:00] Thank you.

[1:10:01] Okay, as we have nobody online, is there anybody in Chambers who wishes to come up and ask a question?

[1:10:06] Come on up.

[1:10:21] Welcome back. My name is Austin Russell, and I live here on 24.

[1:10:30] A little

[1:10:31] over two weeks ago, Burnaby's City Council voted to ask Ottawa to impose an arms of

[1:10:36] Margot on Israel. The specified measures also included expanding the temporary visa

[1:10:42] resettlement program to reunite Palestinian-Canadian families with loved ones in Gaza. Many of whom

[1:10:49] have since been murdered while awaiting for word on their visa.

[1:10:54] In November of 2023, this council joined more than 50 other municipalities after Burnaby,

[1:11:02] in advocating for a ceasefire.

[1:11:04] This would not be the first time the city has weighed in on this issue.

[1:11:09] I have been disappointed by all other orders of government.

[1:11:12] And can I count on this council to follow in Bernabese footsteps and pressure the federal

[1:11:20] government to stop arming Israel?

[1:11:24] This is an interesting question and it's a challenging question.

[1:11:31] One that we have not discussed in chambers, however my view on the subject is what is required

[1:11:42] here is a multinational response that takes those decisions away from Israel that allows the

[1:11:53] rebuilding of Gaza. You have a multinational force. This is what is truly needed in Gaza right now.

[1:12:03] But I'll leave it at that. At the council, we have not discussed it beyond our letter to the prime

[1:12:10] a minister for the ceasefire, a question like that would require a lot of more information

[1:12:21] and a lot of discussion. I hope you understand that it's not a clear cut quick answer.

[1:12:27] Yeah, I just would appreciate it if you considered it.

[1:12:30] Fair enough. Thank you very much. Okay, anybody else in chambers?

[1:12:39] Not seeing any.

[1:12:40] So, are we okay?

[1:12:44] Sure.

[1:12:48] Mayor and council reports are next.

[1:12:50] Do you need some water?

[1:12:53] Okay.

[1:12:54] Moving along, we've got the Mayor and Councillor reports.

[1:12:57] Anybody wish to jump in?

[1:13:01] Councillor Chen.

[1:13:03] Thanks, Mayor.

[1:13:04] I just wanted to share with council that I had the opportunity to visit a,

[1:13:07] which in March, regional park today with Metro Vancouver,

[1:13:10] and I just wanted to take a moment to share a council

[1:13:12] and with the rest of the community that we can expect

[1:13:15] a soft opening of the park very soon.

[1:13:19] I had a chance to go to it, so it's the park that,

[1:13:23] as many of us know, if you set off on a kayak

[1:13:26] or canoe from Grand Narrows, you can head your way

[1:13:28] over to which in March, regional park,

[1:13:30] or the landway is via Coquitlam and via Cori Road,

[1:13:34] and you go past Minicada and you go to a switch of marsh and it's such a beautiful area.

[1:13:39] And I just want to say that I'm thrilled because as we know all the parks are filling up,

[1:13:44] around Maybridge, lots of people want to get outdoors. This is another way to access

[1:13:49] the beautiful outdoors close to home. And the size of Wige and Marsh Regional Park is actually

[1:13:53] one and a half times the size of Stanley Park, which I think is phenomenal and also to share that

[1:14:00] It is beautiful and because of the Metro Banker's strong protection mandate, as well as connecting people,

[1:14:09] actually over 96% of the park will be off limits to visitors because they're dedicated to protecting that ecosystem.

[1:14:16] So I think that we're finding good balance between allowing people to access nature and protecting the ecosystem.

[1:14:24] And I just want to take a moment to share it to you like I learned how much.

[1:14:27] I'm sure a park staff, well, a park staff, well, no, but for me, like just learning how much work it takes to design and create a park.

[1:14:35] The resource management folks walked us through how much wildlife study they did.

[1:14:43] And just to track how much wildlife traffic there was in different parts of the park and how they designed the park so that they would be welcoming visitors to the parks.

[1:14:51] and setting up group camping site where there's less wildlife traffic.

[1:14:55] It's supposed to be more wildlife traffic, and so I'm just in the bat studies.

[1:15:26] Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

[1:15:31] Councillor Schiller. Thank you. And thank you for sharing that, Councillor

[1:15:35] Towne, that is really exciting. And, you know, we are very blessed here with the presence

[1:15:40] of Metro Parks in our community already, and I agree with you. It's very timely to have

[1:15:45] new parks, based and new conservation space coming on online. I will be checking that out.

[1:15:51] I did just want to share that Rich Meadows recycling is hosting a hazardous materials collection

[1:15:56] day, it's coming up on September 27th, and the society has set this up to provide an

[1:16:02] opportunity for community members to drop off and safely recycle items they don't normally

[1:16:07] accept. Pool chemicals, break fluid, things like that. You can find all the information online,

[1:16:13] and you do need to pre-register. So please check that out. Thank you.

[1:16:18] Thank you. Moving on to council careers.

[1:16:20] Thank

[1:16:23] you, so Mr. Vancouver Regional Planning met last Thursday.

[1:16:28] There is a really great report which is actually applicable to us on the cost of housing

[1:16:33] and transportation added together.

[1:16:36] We are one of the few communities where transportation is higher than housing in the cost that we

[1:16:41] have and when you combine the two we end up being higher than many other communities because

[1:16:47] as of the cost of transportation and the variety of ways.

[1:16:50] It's not just transit in a bus.

[1:16:53] It's just transportation in general and the cost

[1:16:56] that we sort of bore living further out.

[1:16:59] And I think it's a really, really great piece

[1:17:02] of data for us to use as we continue to advocate

[1:17:05] for the urgent need,

[1:17:06] although we are on the list for BRT.

[1:17:09] I don't think our advocacy can stop

[1:17:11] until it's actually being built.

[1:17:13] But it was a good piece of work to just really highlight

[1:17:16] the excess of costs that our residents are having to pay in transportation due to the lack of public transit that we have in our community.

[1:17:26] And the other thing I just want to show you're going to talk Terry Fox.

[1:17:29] You're going to talk Terry Fox.

[1:17:31] Yes. Okay.

[1:17:32] You can do that.

[1:17:33] You can do that.

[1:17:34] You got to speak it. It's your deal.

[1:17:36] I just want to share with the community that you and I talked about earlier, UBCM is next week.

[1:17:41] And most of us will be there, and we're meeting with, I don't know, probably eight different

[1:17:47] ministers and ministries, if not 10 next week, to really share the good work being done

[1:17:52] in Maple Ridge, but also take the opportunity to advocate for the much needed resources

[1:18:00] from a variety of different avenues that we need within our community.

[1:18:04] And it's also a really great place for us to network with other mayors and counselors

[1:18:08] around the province and learn what other communities are doing, learn from each other.

[1:18:13] We also have three, four motions, four motions, three motions going forward.

[1:18:20] One's in the endorsed and two is in the non-endorse one, so we'll be bringing those to the community's seeking support

[1:18:26] because we can say all we want, but when you have the support of over 160 municipalities around the province,

[1:18:32] it's a much louder voice for the province to hear what we're doing, so thank you.

[1:18:37] Thank you. I'm not seeing anybody else, so I will add in mine with a busy week, hit

[1:18:46] the ground running, started off with welcoming eight new full-time firefighters to

[1:18:53] our department. And it's exciting to see fresh new faces, fully trained, ready to go,

[1:19:00] and the one thing that stands out to me, I would be the shortest firefighter ever. They

[1:19:06] They put me right between the two tallest ones, but it's exciting to see everybody's excited

[1:19:13] to be there.

[1:19:14] They're all eager to make their mark, so that was fun.

[1:19:18] Opened up to, if you go to the pit metal air port, if you haven't been there in a while,

[1:19:24] you should go check it out.

[1:19:25] They've really changed and upgraded everything.

[1:19:28] They actually have a new restaurant there called Rustic Rose, so we did the grand opening

[1:19:33] there.

[1:19:34] You know, it's the owner of Salton Sear with a catering company in Maple Ridge to expand

[1:19:39] it to the airport.

[1:19:41] It's a great place to take the kids and have some food, or if you're on a first date,

[1:19:46] you can take your date there and look at the planes and imagine all the great places you're

[1:19:50] going to go after that first date of done.

[1:19:53] Go out there and check it out.

[1:19:54] It's really cool.

[1:19:55] So, um, had the opportunity to, uh, the Chamber of Commerce had their annual Gulf Tournament,

[1:20:03] um, for charity, and, um, the, we were able to, we sponsored a whole, talked to a whole

[1:20:09] bunch of people with a blast, everybody had fun, uh, of course, this was just after our

[1:20:13] neck and the woods, and people were nonstop raving about our neck and the woods, um, then

[1:20:20] And on Saturday, myself and Councillor Carrera's, we went to a charity cricket game hosted

[1:20:29] by our local, oh yeah, yes, yes, you showed up as we were, sorry, great, great, oh man,

[1:20:39] now I feel bad.

[1:20:43] This is put on by our local cricket club, we have a couple of them now.

[1:20:48] the funds that they raised from that charity will go to I believe this year

[1:20:54] round to the community foundation and then those will be redistributed.

[1:21:00] Sunday was the Terry Fox run is the third year back since they had I guess

[1:21:07] before COVID and every year it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and

[1:21:13] I think this one was the biggest so far.

[1:21:15] Lots of people, their families fun,

[1:21:18] they had bouncy castle, they had hot dogs,

[1:21:21] they had music, it was a great fun for all.

[1:21:25] And watching at the start of it when it went,

[1:21:29] you were there for five minutes watching people

[1:21:31] run past the arch of balloons, the start of, so,

[1:21:38] but it was great to see families doing this together.

[1:21:41] young old didn't make a difference, they were all there, walk, run, roll. I would have been rolling, of course, but it was very fun, and I sure I don't know what their numbers are, but it sounded like they did very well this time round, and the added feature was we had, the guest speaker was Robert Fox, the brother of Terry, who shared some of his stories with us as well, and that was, that was interesting.

[1:22:10] Fred, sorry, Fred Fox, that was to hear the stories of he shared with his brother, he had

[1:22:20] to be there for that. And we said, next week, we're most of us are at UBCM in Victoria

[1:22:29] and that's where we get to sit down. We advocate throughout the year, but this is an opportunity

[1:22:35] where all the ministers are there, we have meetings with pretty much all of them.

[1:22:42] This is our opportunity to sit down in a one-on-one council and their people, their teams, and

[1:22:52] advocate for the things that are important to us, such as housing, such as schools in Silver

[1:22:58] Valley, because though they're provincial, some of the roadways that need work on.

[1:23:04] So, you know, these are great opportunities to go there and it has a lasting impact.

[1:23:11] There's still, when we talk about the first year that we went there in the second year,

[1:23:15] we get a lot accomplished going to these kinds of meetings and it's a great opportunity

[1:23:21] so we're looking forward to that next week.

[1:23:24] I have nothing else to add so we have no further comments or business.

[1:23:32] Well thank you for playing another round of Council agenda tonight. We are adjourned.

Regular Council Meeting

Agenda

Transcript