WATCH: The fate of a Langley urban forest slated for the chopping block could be reversed tomorrow. And as Elaine Yong reports, that’s exactly what a community group fighting to save it is hoping for.
A seven and a half hectare parcel of forest in Aldergrove set to be developed will be debated one final time by the Township of Langley on Monday.
Called Creekside Forest by some residents, the property on the Township-Abbotsford border was rezoned for a 61-lot development earlier this year.
Twenty of those homes are in a cul-de-sac that will be built in the middle of the forest. On December 1 the Township of Langley is in a legal position to sell the land to developers, but the only councillor who voted against the rezoning has put a motion to council in hopes of changing their mind.
“What we’re doing here in Langley is taking greenfield and leveling and replacing it with brownfield. Is that good for Langley?” asks Kim Richter, who hopes that the addition of three new councillors might in November’s municipal elections might change the outcome.
“Ninety per cent of what we do, nobody cares about, nobody argues with. But the ten per cent where people come out and say ‘this is wrong, don’t do it’, I think we should listen to them.”
Township Mayor Jack Froese says that the plan adds six acres of parkland to Aldergrove, including developed trails for the public.
But critics say that’s not much because the areas around the creek have to be protected legally. They’re holding out hope council will reverse course on Monday.
“No one’s going to remember if you added another 20 houses,” says Kirk Robertson of Watchers of Langley Forests.
“But they will remember if you save a forest.”
– With files from Elaine Yong
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