No Township Council meetings for a few weeks due to summer vacation. It was an interesting meeting of council last time around.
Our council watchers report some strange comments coming from Mayor Rick Green. It all started with the delegation that went on forever, as Vancouver-based developers ignored the Township's Sustainability Charter and the desires of the majority of the citizens of Langley Township. Staff have worked for many years to make the Sustainability Charter a reality. There was SIGNIFICANT public participation and residents supported the work.
Mayor Green hails from the food and supermarket industry. He believes that a 5,000 sq. ft. supermarket is not large enough. He wants 15,000 sq. ft. minimum and up to 30,000 sq. ft. if he could get it. The Vancouver-based developers are eying 200th Street in the area of 80th Avenue. The area was to be mixed-use to create an Urban Village. A mix of neighbourhood commercial and residential units. It would all compliment "gasoline alley", where gas stations on every major corner have been allowed to develop.
The end result is that commercial development will now go ahead of residential because these developers cried about the market. It's interesting that right next door to the Township, the City of Langley is approving residential developments and they are selling out (i.e. Paddington Station). Mayor Green reminded all of his 35 years of industry experience and that he still had a "few fingers" in some things. During this meeting, Mayor Green mentioned several times of his meetings with developers, and most especially with the proponents who were present and made delegations. We all know that developers are the largest contributors to most political campaigns. The question is, are Green's fingers in a conflict of interest?
Our council watchers noted that a strong Green supporter who owns land in this area was present and Green had been seen supporting him in local newspaper articles during the campaign. Does Mayor Green have any property interest or shares with this person? One should examine this.
In the end, a deal was made with the devil and commercial development will move forward. Residential and the Urban Village concept will take a back seat and you can thank Mayor Rick Green for the crap that will keep the 200th Street corridor a car-only environment for many, many years to come.
The only champions in this story are Councillors Jordan Bateman, Grant Ward and Kim Richter who opposed this travesty and spoke out and lost out to the motor heads on council who simply don't understand and who allowed Township staff to be slapped in the face. But hey, this is Langley Township under cowboy Rick Green. The very same man that accused former Mayor Kurt Alberts of "top down planning". The same man who allows a steady stream of developers to file through his office. So many insiders and speacial interest groups have come through the mayor's office over the past few months that now a special gate has been installed inside the door to help maintain order and decorum. Prior to this internal gate, those with connections had a "no appointment necessary" deal with the mayor.
Of note, under Mayor Kurt Alberts (and at the urging of Councillor Jordan Bateman) the 200th Street corridor was protected as a transit corridor. But Green and others have seen fit to forget that promise made to the Township. Shame, shame.