vs the RECENT DARK DECADE and longer! A Brighter Light is now Shining, Elections have consequences good or bad!
A true measurement of a politician or politicians on your municipal council is how are they performing vis a vis the previous council and the platform promises they made. As far as a comparison to the previous council is concerned, a light has been turned on for the public; as far as delivering on their platform promises are concerned, while early (1 year in on a 4-year term) their early performance is a breath of fresh air! Yes, I endorsed Eric Woodward and his team plus Michael Pratt for Council in the last election, have I agreed with all decisions, no, BUT then again that was never going to happen, no matter who got elected which is as it should be! On balance so far, they are doing very well in my opinion.
I cannot write this post without talking about the Dark Decade and longer that we have just come through, in the Township of Langley!
A brief history – My family moved to the Township of Langley in 1996 after 29 years living in North Delta and owning a large business in Tsawwassen. I spent 22 years heavily invested in politics, elected, and being an activist plus extensive community committee involvement. Our move to Langley was great, buying our property, raising and showing our horses coupled with a promise to my wife that I was done with politics. That promise lasted for about 10 years, BUT after observing a number of issues in the Township, I couldn’t resist, I ran for Mayor, and was elected November 15th, 2008. Be careful what you wish for, what I knew before getting elected, paled in comparison to what I found after being sworn in.
The issues were extremely significant back then, in short, the Township of Langley had been run, and controlled by friends and insiders of those in elected office over many many years. Those involved during this period of time were known quietly by many of us as the Langley Mafia. Dispute that? There was just too much evidence on what was really going on, as I have written in this BLOG.
This BLOG was initiated back in January of 2013, after giving then Mayor Jack Froese one year to prove his worth. He failed in spades with a continuing do nothing, see nothing, say nothing administration, the same as what went on before my term. A review of over 150 posts in this BLOG’s history deals with a multitude of Township of Langley issues over the last 10 years. Frankly if it wasn’t so serious it would be a joke. I still ask myself how any of this was possible?
So why do I say the “Dark Decade”?
In 2008 it was apparent that the Township of Langley was facing an explosion in population, due to so much available and developable land in a municipality within Metro Vancouver, specifically Willoughby. In 2008 the Township of Langley had a population of about 107,000 with the actual Willoughby population in the 17,000 range. It was the focus of numerous community planning initiatives and development applications back then, but that was just the start. It has been supercharged ever since. It was, and in some ways still is the wild west in property development!
The Problem? – It is one thing to approve a development, but it is quite something else to deal up front with the planning necessary to include, who is going to pay for the community infrastructure necessary to support the incoming population? To be clear, development does not pay for itself, it never has. By way of the old Municipal Act and the relatively NEW Community Charter, developers are required to pay for DCCs (Development Cost Charges). DCC assessments are approved by council designed to fund localized sewer, water, road, sidewalk and lighting infrastructure. They can only be used for limited purposes per its provincial legislation. It is common sense that DCC rates should be increased annually, due to inflation, if nothing else, however this was not being done on an annual basis in the Township.
Checking on DCC increases by the Jack Froese government? They didn’t raise DCCs between 2012 and 2020 – An estimate of lost dollars – $200 million. You the taxpayer paid that bill!
All of this meant that when the time came for the Township to contract and put in the infrastructure the money was secured to pay for, the municipality was spending money year(s) after at an inflated rate due to cost increases over that period of time. Therefore, you were having to spend more money than what was collected from the developers to provide the infrastructure that was planned. You the taxpayer ended up paying for the shortfall. It was wrong but had been allowed to continue. That thinking has ended with our new council.
So, who was the previous council thinking was going to pay for all of the supporting infrastructure? First of all, by all accounts they didn’t have a plan at all. Fire Halls their infrastructure plus staffing, Police Offices their infrastructure plus staffing, Community Centers, Pools, Dry Floor arenas, Ice Arenas, State-of-the-art active parks, passive parks, Fields, pre-development major road infrastructure like 208th Street and so much more?
You The taxpayer have been paying for the shortfall!!!!
There are only two choices as to who will pay for the supporting infrastructure that is required to support the population that moves into all of that council approved development, you the taxpayer OR the developer! Well, it was a massive failure by past councils; that cost inevitably landed on the back of Township of Langley taxpayers to the benefit of developers. Past administrations in the Township of Langley had very tight connections to the development community.
In 2009 I presented my council with a solution to this significant problem as I saw it – Community Amenity Contributions (CACs) but they didn’t see it my way, why? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out!
Recognizing this problem among many, I made CACs (Community Amenity Contributions) an issue during my campaign of 2008. After the election I brought in Bruce Maitland a well- respected retired Manager of the City of Vancouver Real Estate Services who was very well versed on the CAC issue. Bruce and his wife live in the Willoughby community.
His primary task at the time was to conduct a seminar for all Council members to understand the Vancouver CAC program (Vancouver originated the idea which had been court tested) to explain in detail what was involved and why it was such a benefit. Well, NOT for my council!
I will never forget the action of one councillor, who is still on Council I might add (3 guesses and the first two don’t count – LOL). That individual stood up in the middle of the seminar and blurted out – that is fine for Vancouver, but we don’t do that in the Township of Langley! The stupidity of such a statement is mind boggling! So why did the council of the day reject such an idea – one can only assume that friendship with the development community meant more than the impact on you the residential and business taxpayer.
So, what was the impact of that decision by the 2008 – 2011 Council and the intransigence of Jack Froese and his Council over the past 10 years to continue with such an irresponsible anti CAC policy? NOTE – His council brought in a relatively insignificant CAC by-law in 2018 (very low by any comparative standards to surrounding municipalities) which didn’t take effect until sometime in 2019 with a few small payments made late in 2019.
So, what was the cost of rejecting such a valuable development by-law opportunity in 2009? Think of all of the residential and business development that has taken place in the Township of Langley over the past 14 years? Think of the development just in Willoughby alone? So, what are the numbers? I have watched council quite closely since their swearing in last year. I have tracked their move and implementation of a competitive CAC by-law and their actions with development applications including those that were able to be brought back to review by the new council.
Prior to the current council’s election, Willoughby has had about 40% development approved virtually no or very limited return to the Township of Langley via the old CAC program. So, to be clear 40% or more of Willoughby has been allowed to be developed without contributing a single dime towards the current and justified campaign to bring our communities up to a safe, livable and enjoyable community standard. Willoughby’s population is now over 50,000 probably half way to its built-out number.
What has been achieved by the new council should make all of us very pleased that we have the majority on council who have a vision on what has been needed and how to pay for it. There will be borrowing – however amendments have been made to the CAC program to be able to pay off certain debt when the monies are collected from approved developments.
It is estimated that this council has generated, in less than one year, about $150 Million in CACs. This is a small amount of what will be coming to the Township through CACs as the Willoughby area is built out not counting development in other parts of the Township of Langley. Now, that money has not all been collected yet, which is why there has been the need for borrowing against dedicated CAC revenue payable to the Township of Langley. Some of the improvements like the widening of 208th street will be funded through borrowing against future DCCs coming from property development on both sides of 208th Street.
How much have we allowed to slip through our fingers through the inaction of numerous previous councils since 2008?
How about a minimum of $500 million in lost dollars?
Add to that a $200 million shortfall in DCCs you get a $700 million bill to taxpayers.
Think of what that that money could have been used for?
Call me a liar, but it would probably be greater than the amount above!
A big thank you to the Township of Langley majority on Council for their vision and pro-active decisions. There is no question that this council has had to play catch up due to the irresponsible series of municipal governments that we have had in the Township of Langley. The necessary decisions are finally being made through a responsible developer paid funding initiative for the necessary and essential community amenities for safety, recreation and livability.
PS – I say the majority on council because there is certainly a long term exception to that on council, I will deal with that issue in a future post.
RG
I am working on a few posts at present that I believe are of significant concern to Township of Langley Residents, come back often for news of interest to Township residents.
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