So I would like to call the regular Monday July
27th, Langley City Council meeting to order, and start this
reading often a good way as well by acknowledging that
we're on the unseated in traditional territories of the Kate
Sean, Kwantlin Math, the Queen Semiyahu First Nations. We do
have an agenda. Would anybody like to move it? So
move by Councillor Solium, second of our Councillor Mike, sorry,
white. Is there any further discussion. So CNN, I'll call
the questionables in favor opposed, so that's carried unanimously onto
the consent agenda. I believe Councillor Wallace would like to
remove something. And just turn your mic on whilst you're
doing that. Yeah, just the correspondence that was sent to
us in regards call for, is this when I say
what it is? You just move it to the correspondence,
and we'll do that. Yeah, move to component, thank you.
Anything else. So seeing none would anybody like to move
the amended consent agenda. So move by Councillor Max, seconded
by Councillor White for the discussion. So see, none will
call the question, all those in favor, opposed. So that's
carried unanimously. So this brings us to the community spotlight,
and these are two presentations that are kind of put
together. So unless I hear contrary, I would like to
give them 20 minutes, which would be policy if they
were to do 10 two separate presentations. So seeing that,
I think we're all in agreement here. I would like
to turn it over to our folks from the DLBA
and DLC. Thank you.
Good evening, Mayor Pahal. Members of Council, City staff and
guests. Thank you so much for having us here this
evening. My name is Chris Parsons, and I'm the executive
director of the downtown Lline Business Association. And with me
tonight, I have Terran Antelec, the manager of Operations for
Discover Langley City. And we thought we'd take this opportunity
to share how we're working together to support local businesses,
promote language city, and help build a vibrant community. So
tonight's not so much about just telling you what we
do, but also showing you how that work benefits our
businesses, our residents, and our community. Together, we're creating more
reasons for people to visit, explore, support local businesses, and
experience everything Laline City has to offer. That's why we
thought it made sense for us to share our story
together this evening. Now the downtownlinely business association has represented
businesses and property owners inlinely city for over 30 years.
Our role is to advocate for our members, create opportunities
for businesses to succeed, and invest in programs that strengthen
downtown. Discover Langley City is the city's official destination marketing
organisation, helping tell the story of Laline City and encouraging
people to visit, explore, and stay longer. While our mandates
are different, they complement each other really well. Now, before
we dive into what we do, I'd like to recognise
the people that make it happen. We're as small but
mighty team, we were many hats. Brenda is the smiling
face you see when you come to the office, and
she's the one that keeps everything running smoothly. Rochelle leads
her incredible marketing and social media team, tear and overseas
the operations for discover Langley City, and I have the
pleasure of working alongside all of them. It's a fantastic
team, and I'm really excited and proud of what we're
able to accomplish together. Now, when people think about the
DLBA, they often think about our events. Events are certainly
an important part of what we do, but they're really
just one piece of the puzzle. Everything we do essentially
can fit into four key areas. We create events that
bring people downtown. We support businesses year round through practical
programs and services. We market downtown Langley as a destination
to shop, dine, and explore. And perhaps most importantly, we
build partnerships with the city. Community organisations, sponsors, and our
businesses. The rest of our presentation really follows along those
four key pillars. The first pillar, being events. Every Tuesday
evening in July, McBurney Plaza has come alive with free
live music. These events have been incredibly popular and create
a wonderful atmosphere and community in the plaza. Families come
downtown, they grabbed dinner before the show. They enjoy a
nice cream afterwards, and they spend time together in our
community. It's a great example how even a relatively simple
event can create meaningful activities for our local businesses and
our community. Our next concert is tomorrow night from 6
till 8 p. m. So if you haven't been, we
hope to see you there. Now art's alive. That's one
of our signature events, and this year we're very excited
to celebrate its 30th anniversary on August 15th. It's one
of the largest one - day events in Lanley City,
bringing together artists, performers, musicians, local businesses, and thousands of
visitors. This year's festival has some exciting additions. We've moved
the main stage to the south side of McBerniza, where
we'll have live performances all day long. Everything ranging from
Coco Jaffro's world music to Langley's own Daniel Wesley. To
celebrate the 30th anniversary, we also have local muralist Mike
Moser from Moja Creative, who's going to do a custom
mural live through it throughout the festival on - site,
which is going to be really neat for people to
witness. And visitors can even take a step back in
time with Doc and his DeLorean for some fun photo
opportunities as families. That's on top of the over 200
roving entertainers, performers, artists, and artisans that you'll see throughout
the day. More than just an arts festival, it's an
opportunity to showcase everything that makes downtown Langley unique. Our
signature foodie event is the fork and finger, and we're
excited to have that on August 22nd. The idea is
very simple, celebrate our incredible local restaurants. Visitors pick up
a free tasting passport in McBurney Plaza. They explore the
participating downtown restaurants, and hopefully they discover out a few
new favourite places they'll return to throughout the year. During
the day, McBurney Plaza comes alive again with live music.
Local chef sharing their favourite recipes and techniques, and of
course, plenty of great food. It's another great example of
using an event to directly support our businesses while showcasing
everything Langley City has to offer. Now the events themselves
are only part of the story. What really matters is
what happens because of them. They introduce people to businesses,
they've never visited before. They encourage repeat visits. They help
businesses build new customer relationships, and perhaps most importantly, they
create positive experiences that change people's perception of downtown Langley.
That's the real impact. But of course, events are only
a few days each year. And supporting businesses happens every
single day. Our second pillar is supporting those businesses. Because
while events are highly visible, most of our work actually
happens behind the scenes throughout the year. We spent a
lot of time working directly with businesses, responding to questions,
connecting people with resources, and developing programs that help enhance
the downtown experience for businesses, residents, and visitors. One of
our most successful programs is our downtown dollars program. They
can be spended over 100 downtown participating businesses, and unlike
gift card programs, there are no fees. We reimburse businesses
a hundred percent, so every dollar goes right back into
supporting our local economy. We use downtown dollars at our
events. Our shopping campaigns. Businesses use them for promotions, and
employer recognition. Community organisations use them for fundraising, and residents
purchase them as gifts throughout the year. My favourite part
is that they can be used for a cup of
coffee or a brand new barbecue. When someone who wins
or receives downtown dollars, they walk into a coffee shop
or a store. They've never visited before. They discover a
new favourite business, and they come back again and again,
and bring their friends. That's exactly what the program was
designed to do. Another example is our get fresh program.
It's not glamorous, but it's incredibly important. We partner with
local businesses and property owners. We help with on and
cleaning and repairs graffiti removal and other initiatives that help
keep downtown looking its best. We also work with the
incredible team at inclusion Langley, who provide daily litter pickup
and clean our picnic tables and high traffic public spaces.
It's all part of a downtown that businesses are proud
of and visitors enjoy spending time in. Our third pillar
would be marketing and placemaking. The mural walk has become
one of our most successful tours of initiatives. It encourages
people to slow down, explore different streets, discover hidden businesses,
and experience downtown in a new way. What started as
a handful of murals has grown into a self -
guided experience featuring nearly 30 beautiful works of art. We
recently refreshed the guide and map to highlight just how
accessible the road is and encourage visitors to slow down
browser unique boutiques, relax at local coffee, cafes, and enjoy
the restaurants that make downtown Langley so special. It's another
example of creating reasons for people to spend more time
downtown. We also look for creative ways to make downtown
Langley even more welcoming. One example is our dog -
friendly downtown initiative. Businesses can display a window decal, letting
visitors know that well - behaved dogs are welcome inside
or on the patio. It's a simple program, but it
encourages people to bring the whole family. Including their four
- legged family members, to shop, dine, and explore downtown.
Then marketing ties everything together. Before I move on, quick
show a hands, how many of you already follow us
on social media. Alright, thank you so much. If you
don't already, hopefully that changes tonight, because through social media,
photography, videography, advertising, and storytelling, we're constantly promoting downtown Langley
and the incredible businesses that call it home. Now while
the DLBA's focuses on the downtown core, our marketing efforts
naturally connect with a broader work happening through discoverlinely city.
With that, I'd like to invite Taryn to share how
discover Lanley City is helping promote the entire city as
a destination. Thank you, Chris. So now I'll be speaking
from the perspective of discovering Langley City initiatives that contribute
to partnering to build a vibrant community, starting with our
social media. Discover Langley City takes a similar approach with
our social media content, but it tells a different story.
The discoveringly city social media tells a story of the
destination through iconic places, including helpful guides and itineraries to
make planning simple. The shareability of posts for friends and
family to share with one another help build awareness of
these attractions and help keep Langley City top of mind.
As shown here, our announcements such as when the umbrella
aerial display returned to McBurney Plaza, the release of the
new 2026 visitor guides, summer event promotion, and a reel
from our international dining marketing campaign, which I will explain
in further detail shortly. Our seasonal and ongoing marketing campaign
showcased the value of what the community offers packed into
a fun branded look and feel to position Langley City
as the perfect destination for remarkable experiences. To further collaborate
on the impact of these initiatives are tourism - related
partner businesses, the DLBA, city of Langley, and more community
partners come together to drive community awareness. Three campaigns we've
released to drive community awareness in the last year for
remarkable experiences, include tastes from around the world, get your
summer on, and holiday lights. I'll go into more detail
about each of these three strategic marketing initiatives over the
next few slides. Firstly, taste from around the world was
launched in March 2026 to increase awareness of the deliciously
phenomenal international cuisines in Langley City. The campaign is designed
to be ongoing with a seasonal push in spring and
fall. Visitors are encouraged to begin their journey by exploring
the featured eight unique and authentic restaurants that bring global
filivers to our beautiful community. From bold spices to comfort
classics, this is what makes Langley City special. Diverse cultures,
passionate chefs, and incredible food. Shown here is the webpage
designed to highlight the traditional ingredients in the cuisine showcased
in this campaign with graphics and professional photography. Videography was
posted on social media in a vertical video series of
Reels. Next, get your summer on was launched in June
2026. This campaign offers a curated selection of free family
- friendly events in Langley City from June to August,
including 10 events would DLC tourism - related partner businesses
and organisations. Ultimately, this campaign encourages exploration, local spending, and
extended visits. Langley City has a standout selection of free
family - friendly events during the summer season, so it
was a natural foundation to build a summer - branded
campaign out of. DLC Partners are exceptional to work with
and have supported various marketing tactics with us. One of
our key marketing tactics was a series with content creator
that Ashley Rhap City, showcasing her favourite summer activities in
Langley City beyond events, such as Al Anderson Memorial Poole,
spray parks, and the city of Langley Library. The DLC
landing page for this campaign cross - promoted the summer
in the city campaign with the city of Langley, offering
another webpage to go to for planningactivities outside of events
during the summer months. The second key marketing tactic was
media placements with online publications. Stories about summer events happening
in Langley City appeared in Vancouver magazine, Vita magazine, and
Vancouver's best places to increase reach and frequency of event
mentioned to support promotions for the event organisations in the
campaign. Lastly, looking ahead to the holiday season, we are
counting down to Christmas in Langley City, even though it's
summer, we're already looking head to the holiday season. Last
December, DLC launched a new holiday theme marketing initiative called
Holiday Lights. In collaboration with the city of Langley, who
we think for such beautiful holiday displays every year, um,
the holiday lights created a map and a campaign as
a tourism product for visitors and residents to go on
a festive self - guided tour to explore the light
displays. Community partnerships were key to the holiday lights campaign.
The landing page and Mat promoted another annual attraction to
drive exploration and visitation. And this was through its Christmas
time in the city contest with the DLBA. This contest
encourages visitors to stay longer. And shop for the chance
to win downtown dollar prizes. This year, the holiday lights
map can also include the Langley Christmas village as another
tie - in to explore the holiday lights in Langley
City. Here's a look at the map from 2025. Nearly
4, 000 visitors went to the holiday lights landing page,
which featured this map and a printer - friendly version.
The walking route is shown in pink and the driving
route is shown in green. One of the most effective
ways to share the amazing tourism businesses in Langley Cities
through word of mouth at the Mobile Visitor Centre, running
from June to August each summer. Visitors come to pick
up visitor guides, maps, and ask for recommendations for the
purpose of their trip. Pictured here is from Community Day
this year, which was a great day to also connect
with other community organisations who attended. To wrap up, I
wanted to share a few examples of Returism Marketing and
Action and Local Business Showcasing. To drive direct foot traffic
and awareness, DLC runs its prize wheel for visitors to
win coupons for free items or discounts from a selection
of 12 tourism businesses. Secondly, the discover Langley City Office
answers tourism inquiries on the phone and in - person
to provide maps and visitor guides for Langley City experiences
all year round. Thirdly, to showcase the unique stories that
our tourism businesses tell, we go behind the scenes and
capture social media videos from their perspective. One, shared theme
across these examples is the enthusiasm that the businesses in
Langley City have to participate in both discoverlinely city and
the downtown Langley Business Associations Initiatives. The businesses understand the
power and greater reach achieved by working together to share
our community with the world. Showcase in the third and
fourth photo here on the slide are two DLC tourism
partner businesses. In that third photo is Matthew Purdy from
Toy Traders, which is Canada's largest independent toy store. In
a social media video with the Us, he took the
viewer around the store to see the unique figurines and
displays making it a tourist destination of a store. In
the fourth photo is the team at KPU Brew Lab,
including Alec Eggie, who is the chair of the Bring
Program at KPU. That program is B. C.'s only brewing
and brewery operations diploma program. In a social media video
with us, he took the viewer through the process that
students go through to serve student - made beer to
customers on Friday beer sale days. Which creates a tourism
experience that drives visitors into Langley City. Overall, partnerships with
the community and tourism partners and Langley City showcase a
vibrant community for residents, day trippers, business travellers, and sports
tourism travellers who will want to continue to return in
the future. So I'd like to close by saying that
since stepping into this role, one thing that's really struck
me is just how passionate this community is. Every day
we meet people and business owners who are investing in
downtown welcoming visitors supporting one another and helping create a
community that proud to be a part of. Our role
is to bring these efforts together, amplify them, and help
them succeed. I'd also like to sincerely thank Mayor and
Council, City staff, our board of directors, our businesses, our
volunteers, our sponsors, and our many community partners. Because none
of the work that we've talked about tonight happens in
isolation. It takes collaboration, trust, and a shared commitment to
building a vibrant community. We're grateful to be a part
of that work and we're excited about what's ahead. Thank
you so much. Thank you so much for the presentation.
I know we have Councillor Macko is a question and
Councillor Albrecht as well virtually, but I just wanted to
say, I sure on behalf of all of Council, we
really appreciate the partnership we've had with the DLBA and
obviously our partner through a contract DLC over the years.
And I did see some of your online stuff organically
pop up as well on my feed with the news
articles that he ran. So thank you. So Councillor Mack.
Thank you Mayor Pahall through the mayor. Um, I just
want to say thank you for your presentation. I was
a member of the DLBA for Wall Over 15 years.
So, you know, pretty familiar with you guys and it's
nice to see you here in this capacity. Um, it
did have a question. In the 2025, um, AGM package,
it talked about your guys'revenue. Um, and specifically government grants
municipal, a referenced at 1. 044 million. So I'm just,
and that's obviously, I just have it in front of
me. But I was hoping that maybe you could discuss
a little bit more of the funding model and the
contributions that come to the DLBA from the municipal level
of government. Cause I find that that's a gap when
I talk with residents and taxpayers that they're not aware,
um, that we contribute a lot to the DLBA. So
I was hoping you could speak to that. Sure. Through
the mayor to Councillor Mack, that's a great question. And
I think the AEGM financial year referring to as a
combination of both DLC and DLBA, because when they're, um,
at the AGM level, they're combined together. So separately, the
DLBA receives funding from business levy. Whereas obviously DLC receives
it from hotel room stays. So those two amounts are
combined to form the one million between the two different
organisations. Thank you. You're welcome. Uh, thank you Councillor Albrecht.
Thank you Mr. Mayor. Can you hear me okay? Yes,
we can. Okay. Great. Uh, my feed seems a little
wonky. So I just wanted to express my appreciation for
the presentation. And, uh, I feel that, uh, we're very
fortunate to have Chris and Taryn and your team doing
some incredible work. Uh, to bring, uh, awareness two Langley
City. And I just wanted to thank you so very
much. Well, thank you, Councillor. Councillor Wallace and then white.
Yeah. Um, I also want to say thank you very
much for, for all you guys are doing and, uh,
the summer concert series are amazing. And the growth of
the audience and all ages fun. And it's so nice
on the, uh, in, you know, on the one way
now with, you know, wider sidewalks and the tables and
the chairs. It seems like everybody's spreading out, but it
is a full show. And just congratulations on that. And
just wanted to commend you for, um, the downtown dollars
and how you're always there to support community and events.
And you've supported the Film Festival in the past and
Earth Day as well. And among other things. And just
wanted to congratulate you with the partnership with inclusion Langley
with the Get Fresh Program. So yeah, very proud of
what you guys do. Thank you. Council White. Thank you
Mayor Bahal. Just wanted to express my thanks to both
of your organisations for the partnership that we have with
you and the incredible work that you do. Um, I'd
like to say I'm one of your biggest fans. I
think I could say that. But I think I would
be outdone by many of the businesses that are recipients
of your efforts and your work. Um, your team, I'm
astonished when I see your team, uh, what you were
able to accomplish. And, uh, the incredible output that, um,
you're able to produce. And so I think, uh, there's
a great value that's being, um, experienced, uh, my two
favourite seasons in the downtown or summer and Christmas, um,
you know, and I think that resonates with a lot
of, uh, the community who participate in the, you know,
programs to the experiences and the environment that's created in
bringing people together. And you're doing a brilliant job in
social media and getting the word out there in a
fun, vibrant, informative and exciting way. So, um, kudos to
you have two quick questions. Um, if I mayor, um,
and that is, um, in, uh, in follow up to
the investment over the last year, uh, in the phrase
zero, one way strip upgrade and renewal that took place,
um, how are you finding and what is the feedback
that is coming to you, um, from, uh, that investment,
um, the impact that it's having on the businesses. Recently,
we were just recognised again, uh, for, uh, this project,
um, uh, organisation within BFC. So that's encouraging. It's nice
to see. But what's the tangible? What our business is
saying. So that would be one of my questions. Through
the mayor to Councillor White. Um, that's a great question.
I feel that the feedback have has been wonderful. And
I think the biggest takeaway is say the McBurney Plaza's
summer concert series. People constantly coming up and just saying,
I haven't been down here forever. And it's just incredible.
I want to come down more. It's really encouraging that
people are seeing the bright umbrellas. They're hearing the live
music. They're seeing the wider sidewalks. And Taron and I
have gone to speak to a few different associations, including
the laneally seniors resource society, for example. Just explain to
them just how welcoming it is now and how much
brighter it is and how much easier to navigate the
routes it is. And that's why we laid into that
a little bit too on the redevelopment of the mural
walk map was saying it's accessible for everybody. And I
think before with the BRICS and everything kind of uneven,
there's concern about, you know, tripping. It was darker and
even arts alive. I noticed last year, despite the project
not being completely finished, that there was just that much
more room behind the tents where people, the businesses felt
it because more people could easily get into their stores.
They could also navigate the festival. And it just felt
brighter and bigger. So I think that's really positive. And
yeah, to the businesses, they are all the ones that
I've spoken to have been really optimistic about the future.
I think, you know, they went through a few hard
years. Uh, you know, coming out of COVID and then
the revitalization. It just seems like the happening, you know,
but I feel like people are really positive and really,
um, excited about what's going on right now. So hopefully
we can maintain that momentum. And again, that's thanks to
the support of all these different organisations we spoke about.
Awesome. Thank you. I'll just leave it at that. Thank
you, Mayor. Thank you. Uh, just quickly did Councillor James.
Did you have a question still I saw your hand
was up and it's down now. Yes. Thank you Mr.
Mayor. I got a glitch here. So it's going to
come later than I'm speaking, but it does my heart
good. To see that, uh, the DLBA and DLC is
being left in such incredible hands and the changes that
are being made of positive. Always while maintaining the hurt
and soul of what the DLBA was. And I just
really want to commend you Chris and you, Taryn, um,
you've just taken it to the next level. And I'm
very proud and I'm very happy for both of you.
That's all I wanted to say. Thank you so much
Councillor Councillor Solium. Great. Thanks. Just got two questions. Um,
in the past one, I've gone to Arts Live. It
was pedestrian only. I just want to check. Is it
going to be pedestrian only again this time. Great. So
yes. And then is that also true for confinger? No,
it's not. Okay. So I was just going to, I
guess as a follow - up, will the expanded sidewalks
be incorporated into the fork and finger in that case?
Like, how does that work? Yeah. Great question through the
mayor to Councillor Solomon. You're correct. The Fraser Highway one
way is shut down to traffic between 204th and 206.
This always has been. So the traffic during that day.
Forking fingers never been blocked off, which is nice. We
still have the parking down there. But we notice even
last year with the revitalization, still kind of underworks. It
was still a construction zone in that the road wasn't
drivable yet. Um, the business has started having 10 by
10, 10 out front of their restaurants and serving samples
there. And the streets really came alive. And it was
really need to see that. We'd seen that in previous
years, like little, little drabs here, uh, but it was
neat to see how many of them. And I think
each one of them looked at their neighbours and went,
ooh, next year I'm going to do. So I think
you'll see more and more street activations, which is really
nice. And I think that's to one of the points
about the wider sidewalks is you started to see a
couple cute umbrellas and little bistro sets. And I think
that there also adds to just that feeling of downtown.
So yes, you'll witness more of that at four configure
as well. It'll still be the hub and McGrony plaza,
but people are walking up and down those sidewalks. And
there's going to be little activations to roll the downtown
core, which will be great to see. Great, wonderful. And
then I just have a follow up. Um, Councillor Mack
asked about, um, I guess a municipal subsidy for you
guys. And then you responded by saying it's a business
levy and, uh, hotel levy. I just wasn't sure. So
is it directly coming from the city or is it
coming from these levees? Or is it a mix of
the two? Um, through the mayor to, uh, Councillor Solium.
So, um, municipal and regional district tax that discovered Langley
City receives or MRDT is through hotel overnight stays currently
at two percent for the hotel accommodations. And that is
facilitated through the provincial government, um, and then if Chris
wants to specify to the levy. Yeah. So there comes
to the overnight stays with the tourism levy. And then
the, the BIA is through Bylaw through the business, um,
property taxes that it's levy on the business property owners
that's paid. So that's not coming from residential taxes. I
see. And so just to clarify, so it's not the
municipality. It's not Langley City funding directly. Either of your
organisations. It's through these levies instead. The city of Langley
is the, um, designated recipient of the MRDT and then
discover Langley cities, the service provider. Um, but that is
again from, um, from the Ministry of Finance. Thank you
so much for the clarification. Thank you. Uh, any other
questions or comments. Uh, thank you so much again for
the presentation. I hope you both have a wonderful evening.
You're free to stay or go, whatever you prefer. So
thank you so much. Thank you so much for your
time. Very much appreciate it. Uh, so our next Council
meetings are September 21st followed by September 28th. Is there
any council advisory updates. So seeing none, I'll move on
to the administrative reports. So item 8A. The first is
at Council Approve the Manager of Engineering and Parks Operations
and Trademen, water metre coordinator to attend the 2026 Neptune
Connect users conference and MANET, Ontario from October 26 to
28, 2026. Is there a mover and techender? Move by
Councillor Wallace, seconded by Councillor White. Any further discussion. So
seeing none, I'll call the question all those in favor.
Opposed. So that's Care Dynamously onto 8B. Um, if you
would like me to speak, I am more than happy
to, otherwise I'd just like to move what's written in
our agenda. Uh, so is there a seconder for that
or Councillor White for their discussion on that. So see,
now I'll call the question all this in favor. Any
opposed. So that's carried unanimously onto item 8c, which is
the roadway encycling improvements. Again, I would like to just
move that as the four recommendations in our agenda and
see if the seconder. Uh, so seconded by Councillor Wallace
for their discussion. Councillor Mack. Thank you Mayor Paul through
the mayor to staff. Um, I'm just curious whether there
was any way to separate the traffic signal upgrades and
the rode repaving from the, um, cycling infrastructure upgrades, uh,
because as it appears in the agenda, it's a 4.
4 million for bypass roadway encycling improvement. So I'm just,
I feel conflicted because it's all lumped into one tender.
Um, the vast majority of this tender is for, um,
cycling improvements, which from my perspective are underutilized. So I
was just hoping to get clarity as to whether or
not, or why this was tendered together. Uh, so I
think the question is, can the tender be separated? And
I will ask, um, at this point in time in
this meeting right now, can you separate the tender. And
I'll turn that to reach. Yeah. Sorry. I don't know
if we would like to respond to that. Thank you.
Thank you for that question, Councillor Mack. Um, at this
stage, we couldn't separate the tender we'd have to close
it. But the reason we combine them is the work
is integrated. And when you're in putting in the multi
- use path, the work that we're already doing with
the intersection improvements, it all works together. And we have
more efficiencies and cost savings as we do the work
all tendered. They're all, they're all combined to do the
cycling improvements, the multi - use path to move the
curb lanes, you're already working in that intersection. Um, I'm
not sure if that covers your question. So I think
to be direct, we can't split it up right now
in this meeting. We cannot. Yeah. No, definitely. Um, I
guess I just more am asking, not necessarily a mechanism
to split it up immediately right now, but when it
actually goes out to tender, I do view that there
are three different elements to this project. Um, the most
costly one being a cycling improvements. So I guess, um,
to be more succinct if this was to referred back
to staff or if council ended up voting this tender
down, um, would it be possible to go back to
market for the traffic signal upgrades and the road paving,
which I'm very much in favor of. To TAF. To
Councillor Mack, the tender has gone out and has closed.
So this is the, um, report to award the tender.
So if we, if it was decided that council did
not want to award that tender, it would have to
be cancelled. And we would have to then redesign the
project into different phases to separate those out and tender
on them separately. We could not tender it as is.
We'd have to redesign it into the three separate portions.
It means coming back and we're doing work in intersections.
Um, and prolonging that work over many months, possibly years
and coming back and doing, um, ripping out work that
we've already done as part of the bike improvements. And
or the intersection improvements. Okay. Thank you. Councillor Albrecht. Yeah.
Thank you Mr. Mayor. And just for clarity, uh, maybe
staff could, um, make sure that I'm correct on this.
I see that we're getting almost three million dollars through
a combination of transling funding and some bicycle infrastructure capital
costure and walking infrastructure and major network, uh, programs. So,
um, uh, a lot of this, um, like the component
of the Langley bypass roadway encycling. It isn't just cycling.
It's, it's a combination of road work, multipath and cycling.
Is that correct? Uh, through this half. Through the Mayor
to Council Albrecht. That is correct. We have just about
three million and funding from TransLink and those are all
part of the programs, the funding programs. I did you
have any further questions or comments, Councillor Alrecht. No, I'm
good. Thank you very much. Uh, any other questions or
comments Councillor Mack. Yeah. Thank you. Just, um, I do
feel challenged when these applications come forward. I alluded towards
this are actually referenced it during the budget because we
have five different options to apply for various different transLink
grants. And because of our strategic initiatives with the Council
majority, we regularly apply for active transportation grants. So by
the time these applications come to us while, yes, we
are getting TransLink money at the end of the day.
It's because it's strategic direction. And we could have actually,
we could have applied for any of the other four
categories of TransLink Grants. So yes, we have TransLink funding
now, um, you know, I just feel frustrated, I guess,
in some regard. I do believe that we should be
reprioritizing our capital expenditures as well as the money that
we are applying for with TransLink. So that this money
we can get and then better invest it into roads,
um, more or less. So I think we are here.
We have this application. There's TransLink funding that's already been
secured over a number of years. Um, that is the
large proportion at share of the bike lanes. Oh, sorry,
Councillor, that's completely out of line. Sorry, Councillor Mack.
Are you okay to continue? Okay. Um, okay. So, uh,
I will continue, I guess on with the conversation here,
um, one of the things that I would like to
comment on on this tender, um, is that just from
a perspective of the different accounts we do get a
base allocation from TransLink for walking, um, for cycling and
for the major road network components as well. Uh, so
those are things that are, we get as a per
capita funding. So that's something here that I just wanted
to kind of point out in that discussion. Uh, so
those are things that we get kind of, you know,
regardless. And then we can apply as well for the
different programs. So, um, I guess I'll just leave it
at that and just double check with staff. This project,
is there any, is this all funded by TransLink and
DCCs. Harley, let me check. Yes, we have TransLink Funding.
Sorry, I have my.
Correct. We have funding through TransLink, DCC, and funding TransLink
and DCC funding. Thank you. And I would like to
just follow up and with the Councillor Mack that we
funding is, I appreciate where she's coming from. We do
have our transportation 2050 that was recently endorsed and adopted
by Council. That'll help us be more strategic in our
planning and of making sure we're applying for the grants
that we know or we'll go ahead. There are multi
- year lead time with TransLink. So we do try
to make sure we're doing that. And the transportation master
plan does help us focus on that. Thank you so
much. Uh, just a quick technical thing is, um, Councillor
James is in the meeting right now. Okay. Perfect. Thank
you. Awesome. Okay. Um, any to other discussion on this.
Councillor Wallace. Um, yeah, I guess maybe through the mayor
in regards to our 20250 that you spoke about in
regards to cycling, um, I mean, I think that we
should be pushing that more. Not that I'm, you know,
I just, I don't understand, um, in regards to the
transit in the, you know, there was part of that
plan was going to line the secondary school, the road
work. And just to explain that in the continuum of
our bicycle network, um, just to talk in regards of
how we are, because sometimes it's like a piece and
then it's another piece. And it's another piece. But what
is our, our plan in syncing that. With the township
and other networks? Well, let's turn that over to staff
as well. Thank you Councillor Wallace. We do have been
coordinating with the townships. They are currently going the township
to going through their updated plan. Uh, we did meet
with them on this project to make sure we were
aligned with their future. The transportation 2050 has identified priorities.
Um, high priorities, medium priorities when it comes to our
cycling and pedestrian networks. And we will be using those
to guide us on our projects forward. The linked bypass
was identified in the higher priority category of needing upgrades
for facilities for pedestrians and bicycles. Thank you so much.
Uh, any other discussion on this one? Council White. Thank
you Mayor Bahal through you to staff just a question
of clarification. I remember previously there was a, uh, conversation,
um, regarding the, or there was a comment regarding the
multi - year process, um, that's involved in these applications.
And I'm just curious how far back does the application
go with TransLink regarding this project. And for me, that's
a consideration in this whole project is the amount of
energy that's been put out, um, versus, you know, when
we kind of get injected into the process as new
councillors, for instance, um, so yeah, how, how long has
this been in the works for our application with TransLink
and the planning that's gone into it? Thank you. Through
the Mayor to Council White, thank you for that. We
did get approval from TransLink in 2023 for this funding.
That's when we first applied through allocated and competitive funding.
And we have three years to construct once they're approved.
And we also applied for additional funding in 2024 and
25 prior to 2023, the work that went into pre
- doing this. I'd have to, there was enough to
be able to, the concept and preliminary budget. So, but
2023 was when we first applied for funding. Thank you
so much. Thank you. Um, and then I just wanted
to check if Councillor Albrecht had a question or comment.
Uh, yeah, it's more of a point of order, Mr.
Mayor. I want to apologise to all members of, uh,
of Council and staff. Um, I'm remote right now. Somebody
came in and interrupted me, uh, I didn't know I
haven't been put on mute. So I, I apologise. It
was nothing to do with the Council meeting. It was
somebody that was interrupting my attention to the Council meeting.
So I just wanted to clarify that. I'm embarrassed. I'm
sorry. And I'll be more diligent. Uh, that's noted. So
with that, um, Councillor Mack. I think that I just
wanted to say that I'm glad that some of this
behaviour is coming out in public now. So I think
a lot of things have been said. And so I
will just leave it there. Uh, so on the question
of this, um, all those in favor opposed. So is
there none opposed to this? So then that's carried unanimously.
So that brings us on to item 8D. So I
would like to move all four of those recommendations that's
presented in the agenda and see if the seconder. Seconded
by Councillor James, uh, further discussion on this Councillor White.
Thank you Mayor. Um, through the mayor to staff, I
see that there's the estimate on this, um, was
curious about the, the difference between what the original budget
was and what the accepted bid was, which was significantly
less. And I'm just wondering what the reason for that
may have been. And I'll turn that to the staff.
So yes. Uh, to Councillor White, thank you for that.
We are seeing in the region, uh, tenders are coming
in a bit lower. It's a competitive market out there
right now. And city capital projects are benefiting from that.
So that is what we're seeing is companies are, are
putting their best bids forward to get the work. Thank
you so much. Uh, any other discussion on this one.
Uh, so I'll just add a kind of a general
comment, uh, we did, uh, approve our budget last year.
And so we moved the process about three months forward.
And so in the past, we've seen a lot of
the paving projects almost like a year delayed just because
of the way it would work out with the budget.
Then it gets tendered in September. Then it rains. And
so the work actually doesn't happen until the following spring
and summer. Uh, this year we've been able to actually
get these tenders out while essentially a year and a
bit earlier. So it's really exciting to see that these
are all starting construction. If this one is approved all
in August. So it should be wrapped up by the
end of the year. So I think that's one of
the benefits that I've seen with that process of moving
things forward. We're just able to get this work done
earlier. So, uh, with that in mind, I'll call the
question on this one. All those in favor opposed. So
that's carried unanimously. And onto the final item, which is
the Firewall building envelope. I'd like to move those recommendations
as presented in the agenda as well. Seconded by Councillor
Wallace. Any further discussion on this. So see, not all
call the question, all those in favor. Opposed. So that's
carried unanimously. Uh, onto the public release of information just
as a note. So that's just from the investingly city,
which is already available online. And so we're onto the
correspondence, uh, which is from the Canadian Association of Physicians
for the environment. So I think Councillor Wallace, what would
you like to do with this correspondence? Yeah. Just the
call for stronger heat protections falling the fifth anniversary of
B. C. heat dome. And like you said, um, I
would just like to move this referral to staff to
see if we can work with, uh, with, uh, some
more information. And they're asking us, um, to meet and
discuss how we can work together to protect residents from
extreme heat. And am I? Yeah. So I guess you're
a recommendation is you might, if I, I may, your
recommendation might be to refer this to staff for a
response back to the organisation. Yes. And can I elaborate
or no? I will second it. And now you can.
Thank you. Um, just new Westminster has done a lot
of great work in this area. And I feel that
we have a lot of older, um, condos and apartments.
And I worry about, um, what we're experiencing as far
as heat dome. So just as, you know, it's going
to take some, some time to redevelop some areas and
some will exist for some time. So I'm just, uh,
wanting to bring this forward. Thank you. Thank you so
much. Is there any further discussion on this one. Okay.
So see, not going to call the question on this.
So all those in favor. Any opposed. So there's an
opposed. So that's carried. So that brings to adjournment. So
I'll move that we adjourn. Is there a seconder? Councillor
White. So I'll call the question. All those in favor
opposed. So we are adjourned and I'll see you in
September. Thank you.