Category Archives: Surrey Langley White Rock

“This is your next Metrotown”

April 16, 2014 By in Planning and Development, Surrey Langley White Rock Tags: , Leave a comment
The Surrey Central tower, housing SFU operations and the Fraser Health head office, seen from Holland Park

The Surrey Central tower, housing SFU operations and the Fraser Health head office, seen from Holland Park

 

Dianne Watts, the mayor of the City of Surrey since 2005, has brought a level of logic and discipline to her job that was lacking under her predecessor.

Residential towers on King George Boulevard, seen from Holland Park

Residential towers on King George Boulevard, seen from Holland Park

It’s interesting, then, to consider the logic behind Surrey Central, perhaps Ms. Watts’ pet project.  This burgeoning development combines civic functions, commercial expansion and residential towers, organized around the Surrey Central and King George rapid transit stations. Built in the middle of a neighbourhood that has struggled with crime and social issues, Surrey Central goes beyond the standard suburban facelift. It’s an attempt to build a commercial, civic and cultural hub worthy of a Great City. Continue reading →

Downtown Langley: grey to green

September 22, 2013 By in Surrey Langley White Rock, Urban Villages Project Tags: , 1 Comment

Fraser Hwy 1

The City of Langley is one of those pocket-sized, hemmed-in British Columbia municipalities — like Comox, White Rock, or the City of North Van — whose only hope for new development is to densify.

This realization has come late to Langley City. The northern edge of the downtown area gives way to an atrocious patchwork of vacant and underdeveloped commercial and industrial lands. In response, the city adopted a Master Plan in 2009 and 2010 to expand the “realm of influence” of the charming core. Continue reading →

The high street in White Rock: hold for development

February 18, 2013 By in Surrey Langley White Rock, Urban Villages Project Tags: 3 Comments

Johnson Road, White Rock

White Rock, a part of Metro Vancouver, is a small city on the U.S. border with a dry, warm climate (relative to areas north of the Fraser River ) and a splendid promenade and cafe district along Boundary Bay. People in fashionable new neighbourhoods in nearby Surrey sometimes claim to live in White Rock, but there’s at least one key difference. 2011 federal census figures show that close to 30 per cent of White Rock’s population is over the age of 65, compared with 12.1 per cent in Surrey and 13.7 per cent in the City of Vancouver. Continue reading →

To the origin of settlement in Fraseropolis

October 18, 2012 By in Cycling, Days Out, Surrey Langley White Rock Tags: , Leave a comment

A stone marking the site of the original Fort Langley, B.C., founded 1829The Golden Ears Bridge forms part of the Trans Canada trail. As you cycle south, it takes you over the Fraser River and over a Metro Vancouver poop processing station, and lands you in a terrain of mills and warehouses. Do not despair.

Derby Reach, looking to Maple RidgeFive minutes to the east, staying on the trail, the industrial lands give way to agriculture; fifteen minutes later you’re at Derby Reach, a fine regional park on the river that contains a marker for the original Fort Langley, the first point of white settlement on British Columbia’s coast. Continue reading →