2016 Rally Speech

Hello - My name is Michelle and I live with my husband and three children in Phase 1 of the Brookswood 1987 Official Community Plan which the abbreviated term you will hear a lot today is the current OCP. This area is called Cedar Ridge and was the first of the 7,000 sq ft lots to be developed under that OCP.

Let me get this out of the way - I am not against development - I understand that this is a desirable area to live, play and work in - I am against spot zoning and going ahead with development ahead of a new or revised OCP that allows for sustainable development that considers our environment and our community needs.

We moved to this area five years ago from New Westminster. We loved the neighbourhoods, the trees, the parks, the lakes - who knew Langley had lakes?!? It’s safe for our kids to ride their bikes to the corner store for a Screamer at Ed’s Market, to roam free for hours during the day exploring and we can walk to our skating rink. We have llamas, horses, deer and bunny rabbits running around within a block of our house - we moved to heaven.

Our dream was to buy here and then move further south in Langley to a larger lot with a larger house as the children grew and we needed more space. To have some chickens, maybe breed dogs and enjoy living in the country.

We quickly realized after arriving that plans were in motion to change everything - and the Plan did not look good. This plan was paid for and accomplished with $500,000 of Property Owners and Developers money - the Griffith’s Neighbourhood Advisory Corporation or GNAC plan as you will hear it be called. Only one person - the President “Cameron Gair” - a real estate agent in the area became known as part of this group - transparency was not asked by Council for or accomplished. Cameron Gair continues to be one of the leading forces for development in our Community, speaking at almost every Council Meeting.

A lot of Community Residents including Anna R, Scott Thompson, Jackie Manzak, Don Tocher, Kevin Mitchell, Ann‑Michelle DeReus, Ken Grainger, David Chambers and many many more worked extremely hard in 2014 to defeat this new Neighbourhood Plan that clearly did not have Brookswood/Fernridge resident’s best interests at hand and they did - they convinced Council that they needed to slow down and do some public/community consultation, they defeated the GNAC Plan.

In January of 2016 the Township of Langley Council passed a vote that essentially split Brookswood and Fernridge into two areas - the developed area “Brookswood” and “Fernridge” the undeveloped area, this now appears that it was an effort to allow Developers to move forward with development ahead of a new or revised OCP.

The Township of Langley Council cannot stop Developers from bringing development applications forward, legally they must hear the applications. What they can do is not approve them based on the fact that we do not have a current, updated OCP. The 1987 plan makes no allowances for the high environmental standards we must now enforce because we know better about the implications of not creating and enforcing bylaws that protect trees, water and wildlife. In fact in January of this year Council moved for the update to the OCP for these very reasons.

The Council passed this motion to update the OCP - they have agreed to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars (we are waiting on a Freedom of Information request to find out the exact amount) on a community/stakeholder/public input process with the Modus Consulting group - which will was started earlier this year and will take another approximately eighteen months to complete.

Developers have now seen an opportunity - to try to develop under the 1987 OCP which is still in place and have brought forward a number development applications. These applications for the most part have 7,000 sq ft lots and will sell for approximately 1-1.5 million dollars each (not affordable housing) and call for the removal of approximately 93-97% of the trees to complete the development. Over the next six months if these development applications go through we will lose thousands of trees that will be replaced with shrubs or other inconsequential trees.

This is what I call “spot zoning” - not Community Planning. Allowing these developments to go ahead of a new or revised OCP does not allow for wild life corridors to be considered, does not allow for bike lanes, green spaces, traffic planning, services like to sewer or storm water management plans to be implemented in a cost effective way and the list goes on and on.

Currently we have about 13-14,000 people living in the Brookswood/Fernridge area - 1987 OCP calls for an additional 22,000 people to bring that number up to 35,000 - right now as it stands we are considering tripling our population in our Community - right here, right now.

There are also the Provincial Government issues that need to be considered. There are not enough hospital beds in our community currently as it stands. Waiting eight to ten hours in emergency is not acceptable or humane. Desks in schools will become an issue very quickly if your look to the communities around us, specifically Willoughby and South Surrey where portables are the norm even before new schools open. Where they are now busing students in and out of their catchment - adding hours to little people’s days for traveling.

Until these issues are worked out why would anyone in their right mind consider adding more population to our area? We need hospital beds, we need desks in our schools so that our children can go to school within their neighbourhoods and create life long friends that have been deemed to be so important to one’s emotional health. To go forward with development in this area would be grossly negligent on the part of the Council of the Township of Langley.

And what about our water situation? There are mixed messages everywhere - we are on water restrictions currently - last summer’s water levels were scary. Currently about 1/3-1/2 of our water is supplied by our beautiful Brookswood Aquifer - the additional water we need is bought from the Metro Vancouver water supply from the Coquitlam reservoir at a cost of 2 to 3 times the amount it costs for our local water. If we cut down all these trees which protect the Aquifer from evaporation, add another 20,000 people will we still have local water? How much will the cost of this water add to our taxes?

The 1987 OCP plan calls for 65% of the development in this area to be Single Family Dwellings - since then the option of legal suites have been approved and there are also many illegal suites in our area - both situations “skew” the numbers of actual residents. Is the Council taking into consideration that a Single Family Dwelling will most likely almost always have at least two families? If not, why not?

People keep reminding me that the Council does not own the land, individual land owners own the land. This is true - however Council can through a comprehensive OCP direct how areas of land are to be used, what type of building can take place and help create a big picture plan of a beautifully planned community rather than just let things happen haphazardly as the Developers see the best pay day available to them.

And off topic for a second.. Did you know that Willougby is currently only 32% built out? Yes, that’s right there is another 68% to built!! When asked - our Mayor simply states that when it is all done we the public will understand the big picture plan. What I see is a beautiful neighbourhood that is a mess, a mess today, a mess tomorrow and who knows what 20 years from now? This is simply a big tax grab from my perspective. No one from the area comes to Council meetings any more - they’ve given up - this is very sad.

Planning is key - there has to be a big picture plan that is current and considers what they community and neighbours want and need. Right now there is a plan - the 1987 OCP which Council itself had said is insufficient to go forward with. I want the Township of Langley Council to stop all development until there is a plan that has had Community and Stakeholders input, that has been put in front of Council for a Public Hearing and that allows for diversity, and sustainable development in our community.

Just so that you know - because before I became involved I had a very hard time figuring out who was on what side. This is the current situation: There is one Mayor and eight Councillors on our Township of Langley Council. The mayor and five Councillors, all of whom have received financial contributions from the very same Developers that have applications before council currently, have so far voted for these Development Applications to be approved. The other Three Councillors - Kim Richter, Petrina Arnason and David Davis voted against the development applications. Keep these names in your mind - in 2018 we need to keep these Councillors and find good replacements for the others!!

Please make sure that you sign our petition either here today or through our Facebook page - we need all the signatures we can get. Also we forming a Brookswood/Fernridge Community Association, if you are interested in being a part of this association please make sure to sign up for more information at the petition table today or contact me through Facebook.

I invite each and every one of you to join me and my neighbours at the Township of Langley Council meeting tomorrow night at 7pm (and every other Monday after that) at the Township Civic Centre to show Mayor Froese and those on Council that vote with him that we will not stand for any development without a new or revised OCP - to do otherwise would be a mistake none of us can ever correct and we will all pay for....

~ Michelle Connerty