So I would like to call the regular Monday, July 27th Langley City Council meeting to order, and start this meeting off in a good way as well by acknowledging that we're on the unceded and traditional territories of the Katzie, Kwantlen, Mathikwe, and Semiahmoo First Nations. Uh, we do have an agenda. Would anybody like to move it? So moved by Councilor Solium, seconded by Councilor Mike... Uh, sorry, White. Is there any further discussion? So seeing none, I'll call the question. All those in favor? Opposed? So that's carried unanimously onto the consent agenda. I believe Councilor Wallace would like to remove something. And just turn your mic on whilst you're doing that. Yeah, just, uh, the correspondence that was sent to us in regards- call for... Is this when I say what it is? Uh, you can just move it to, to the correspondence, and we'll do that. Yeah, move to correspondence. Awesome. Thank you. Uh, anything else? So seeing none, would anybody like to move the amended consent agenda? So moved by Councilor Mac, seconded by Councilor White. Further discussion? So seeing none, I'll call the question. All those in favor? Opposed? So that's carried unanimously. So this brings us to the community spotlight, and these are two presentations that are kind of put together. So if unless I hear contrary, uh, I would like to give them 20 minutes, which would be policy if they were to do 10... two separate presentations. So seeing that, I think we're all in agreement here. I would like to turn it over to our, uh, folks from the DLBA and DLC. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Paul, members of council, city staff, and guests. Thank you so much for having us here this evening. My name is Chris Parsons, and I'm the executive director of the Downtown Langley Business Association. And with me tonight, I have Taryn Antolak, the manager of operations for Discover Langley City. And we thought we'd take this opportunity to share how we're working together to support local businesses, promote Langley City, and help build a vibrant community. So tonight's not so much about just telling you what we do, but also showing you how that work benefits our businesses, our residents, and our community. Together, we're creating more reasons for people to visit, explore, support local businesses, and experience everything Langley City has to offer. That's why we thought it made sense for us to share our story together this evening. Now, the Downtown Langley Business Association has represented businesses and property owners in Langley City for over 30 years. Our role is to advocate for our members, create opportunities for businesses to succeed, and invest in programs that strengthen downtown. Discover Langley City is the city's official destination marketing organization, helping tell the story of Langley City and encouraging people to visit, explore, and stay longer. While our mandates are different, they complement each other really well. Now, before we dive into what we do, I'd like to recognize the people that make it happen. We're a small but mighty team. We wear many hats. Brenda is the smiling face you see when you come to the office, and she's the one that keeps everything running smoothly. Rochelle leads our incredible marketing and social media team. Taryn oversees the operations for Discover Langley City, and I have the pleasure of working alongside all of them. It's a fantastic team, and I'm really excited and proud of what we're able to accomplish together. Now, when people think about the DLBA, they often think about our events. Events are certainly an important part of what we do, but they're really just one piece of the puzzle. Everything we do essentially can fit into four key areas. We create events that bring people downtown. We support businesses year-round through practical programs and services. We market downtown Langley as a destination to shop, dine, and explore. And perhaps most importantly, we build partnerships with the city, community organizations, sponsors, and our businesses. The rest of our presentation really follows along those four key pillars. The first pillar being events. Every Tuesday evening in July, McBurney Plaza has come alive with free live music. These events have been incredibly popular and create a wonderful atmosphere and community in the plaza. Families come downtown, they grab dinner before the show, they enjoy an ice cream afterwards, and they spend time together in our community. It's a great example of how even a relatively simple event can create meaningful activities for our local businesses and our community. Our next concert is tomorrow night from six till eight PM, so if you haven't been, we hope to see you there. Now, Arts Alive, that's one of our signature events, and this year we're very excited to celebrate its 30th anniversary on August 15th. It's one of the largest one-day events in Langley City, bringing together artists, performers, musicians, local businesses, and thousands of visitors. This year's festival has some exciting additions. We've moved the main stage to the south side of McBurney Plaza, where we'll have live performances all day long, everything ranging from Coco Jaffro's world music to Langley's own Daniel Wesley. To celebrate the 30th anniversary, we also have local muralist Mike Mosher from Mosher Creative, who's gonna do a custom mural live through- throughout the festival on-site, which is gonna be really neat for people to witness. And visitors can even take a step back in time with Doc and his DeLorean for some fun photo opportunities as families. That's on top of the over 200 roving entertainers, performers, artists, and artisans that you'll see throughout the day. More than just an arts festival, it's an opportunity to showcase everything that makes downtown Langley unique. Our signature foodie event is the Fork and Finger, and we're excited to have that on August 22nd. The idea is very simple: celebrate our incredible local restaurants. Visitors pick up a free tasting passport at McBurney Plaza, they explore the participating downtown restaurants, and hopefully they discover a few new favorite places they'll return to throughout the year. During the day, McBurney Plaza comes alive again with live music, local chefs sharing their favorite recipes and techniques, and of course, plenty of great food. It's another great example of using an event to directly support our businesses while showcasing everything Langley City has to offer. Now, the events themselves are only part of the story. What really matters is what happens because of them. They introduce people to businesses they've never visited before, they encourage repeat visits, they help businesses build new customer relationships, and perhaps most importantly, they create positive experiences that change people's perception of downtown Langley. That's the real impact. But of course, events are only a few days each year, and supporting businesses happens every single day. Our second pillar is supporting those businesses because while events are highly visible, most of our work actually happens behind the scenes throughout the year. We spend a lot of time working directly with businesses, responding to questions, connecting people with resources, and developing programs that help enhance the downtown experience for businesses, residents, and visitors. One of our most successful programs is our Downtown Dollars program. They can be spent at over one hundred downtown participating businesses, and unlike gift card programs, there are no fees. We reimburse businesses a hundred percent, so every dollar goes right back into supporting our local economy. We use Downtown Dollars at our events, our shopping campaigns. Businesses use them for promotions and employee recognition. Community organizations use them for fundraising, and residents purchase them as gifts throughout the year. My favorite part is that they can be used for a cup of coffee or a brand-new barbecue. When someone who wins or receives Downtown Dollars, they walk into a coffee shop or a store they've never visited before, they discover a new favorite business, and they come back again and again and bring their friends. That's exactly what the program was designed to do. Another example is our Get Fresh program. It's not glamorous, but it's incredibly important. We partner with local businesses and property owners. We help with the awning cleaning and repairs, graffiti removal, and other initiatives that help keep downtown looking its best. We also work with the incredible team at Inclusion Langley, who provide daily litter pickup and clean our picnic tables and high-traffic public spaces. It's all part of a downtown that businesses are proud of and visitors enjoy spending time in. Our third pillar would be marketing and placemaking. The Mural Walk has become one of our most successful tourism initiatives. It encourages people to slow down, explore different streets, discover hidden businesses, and experience downtown in a new way. What started as a handful of murals has grown into a self-guided experience featuring nearly thirty beautiful works of art. We recently refreshed the guide and map to highlight just how accessible the route is and encourage visitors to slow down, browse our unique boutiques, relax at local cof- cafes, and enjoy the restaurants that make downtown Langley so special. It's another example of creating reasons for people to spend more time downtown. We also look for creative ways to make downtown Langley even more welcoming. One example is our Dog Friendly Downtown initiative. Businesses can display a window decal letting visitors know that well-behaved dogs are welcome inside or on the patio. It's a simple program, but it encourages people to bring the whole family, including their four-legged family members, to shop, dine, and explore downtown. Then marketing ties everything together. Before I move on, quick show of hands, how many of you already follow us on social media? All right, thank you so much. If you don't already, hopefully that changes tonight because through social media, photography, videography, advertising, and storytelling, we're constantly promoting downtown Langley and the incredible businesses that call it home. Now, while the DLBA's focus is on the downtown core, our marketing efforts naturally connect with the broader work happening through Discover Langley City. With that, I'd like to invite Taryn to share how Discover Langley City is helping promote the entire city as a destination. Thank you, Chris. Um, so now I'll be speaking from the perspective of Discover Langley City and initiatives that contribute to partnering to build a vibrant community, starting with our social media. Discover Langley City takes a similar approach with our social media content, but it tells a different story. The Discover Langley City social media tells a story of the destination through iconic places, including helpful guides and itineraries to make planning simple. The shareability of posts for friends and family to share with one another help build awareness of these attractions and help keep Langley City top of mind. As shown here are announcements such as when the umbrella aerial display returned to McBurney Plaza, the release of the new twenty twenty-six visitor guides, summer event promotion, and a reel from our international dining marketing campaign, which I will explain in further detail shortly. Our seasonal and ongoing marketing campaign showcase the value of what the community offers packed into a fun branded look and feel to position Langley City as the perfect destination for remarkable experiences. To further collaborate on the impact of these initiatives, our tourism-related partner businesses, the DLBA, City of Langley, and more community partners come together to drive community awareness. Three campaigns we've released to drive community awareness in the last year for remarkable experiences include Taste from around the World, Get Your Summer On, and Holiday Lights. I'll go into more detail about each of these three strategic marketing initiatives over the next few slides. Firstly, Taste from around the World was launched in March 2026 to increase awareness of the deliciously phenomenal international cuisines in Langley City. The campaign is designed to be ongoing with a seasonal push in spring and fall. Visitors are encouraged to begin their journey by exploring the featured eight unique and authentic restaurants that bring global flavors to our beautiful community. From bold spices to comfort classics, this is what ma- makes Langley City special: diverse cultures, passionate chefs, and incredible food. Shown here is the webpage designed to highlight the traditional ingredients in the cuisine showcased in this campaign with graphics and professional photography. Videography was posted on social media in a vertical video series of reels. Next, Get Your Summer On was launched in June 2026. This campaign offers a curated selection of free family-friendly events in Langley City from June to August, including 10 events with DLC tourism-related partner businesses and organizations. U- ultimately, this campaign encourages exploration, local spending, and extended visits. Langley City has a standout selection of free family-friendly events during the summer season, so it was a natural foundation to build a summer-branded campaign out of. DLC partners are exceptional to work with and have supported various marketing tactics with us. One of our key marketing tactics was a series with content creator The Ashley Rhapsody, showcasing her favorite summer activities in Langley City beyond events, such as Al Anderson Memorial Pool, spray parks, and the City of Langley Library. The DLC landing page for this campaign cross-promoted the Summer in the City campaign with the City of Langley, offering another webpage to go to for planning activities outside of events during the summer months. The sec- the second key marketing tactic was media placements with online publications. Stories about summer events happening in Langley City appeared in Vancouver Magazine, Vita Magazine, and Vancouver's Best Places to increase reach and frequency of event mentions to support promotions for the event organizations in the campaign. Lastly, looking ahead to the holiday season, we are counting down to Christmas in Langley City. Even though it's summer, we're already looking ahead to the holiday season. Last December, DLC launched a new holiday-themed marketing initiative called Holiday Lights. In collaboration with the City of Langley, who we thank for such beautiful holiday displays every year, um, the Holiday Lights created a map and a campaign as a tourism product for visitors and residents to go on a festive self-guided tour to explore the light displays. Community partnerships were key to the Holiday Lights campaign. The landing page and map promoted another annual attraction to drive exploration and visitation, and this was through the It's Christmas Time in the City contest with the DLBA. This contest encourages visitors to stay longer and shop for the chance to win downtown dollar prizes. This year, the Holiday Lights map can also include the Langley Christmas Village as another tie-in to exploring the holiday lights in Langley City. Here's a look at the map from 2025. Nearly 4,000 visitors went to the Holiday Lights landing page, which featured this map in a printer-friendly version. The walking route is shown in pink, and the driving route is shown in green. One of the most effective ways to share the amazing tourism businesses in Langley City is through word of mouth at the mobile visitor center, running from June to August each summer. Visitors come to pick up visitor guides, maps, and ask for recommendations for the purpose of their trip. Pictured here is from Community Day this year, which was a great day to also connect with other community organizations who attended. To wrap up, I wanted to share a few examples of our tourism marketing in action and local business showcasing. To drive direct foot traffic and awareness, DLC runs its prize wheel for visitors to win coupons for free items or discounts from a selection of 12 tourism businesses. Secondly, the Discover Langley City office answers tourism inquiries on the phone and in person to provide maps and visitor guides for Langley City experiences all year round. Thirdly, to showcase the unique stories that our tourism businesses tell, we go behind the scenes and capture social media videos from their perspective. One shared theme across these examples is the enthusiasm that the businesses in Langley City have to participate in both Discover Langley City and the Downtown Langley Business Association's initiatives. The businesses understand the power and greater reach achieved by working together to share our community with the world. Showcased in the third and fourth photo here on the slide are two DLC tourism partner businesses. In that third photo is Matthew Purdy from Toy Traders, which is Canada's largest independent toy store. In a social media video with us, he took the viewer around the store to see the unique figurines and displays, making it a tourist destination of a store. In the fourth photo is the team at KPU Brew Lab, inclu- including Alec Egge, who is the chair of the brewing program at KPU. That program is BC's only brewing and brewery operations diploma program. In a social media video with us, he took the viewer through the process that students go through to serve student-made beer to customers on Friday beer sale days, which creates a tourism experience that drives visitors into Langley City. Overall, partnerships with the community and tourism partners in Langley City showcase a vibrant community for residents, day-trippers, business travelers, and sports tourism travelers who will want to continue to return in the future. So I'd like to close by saying that since stepping into this role, one thing, thing that's really struck me is just how passionate this community is. Every day, we meet people and business owners who are investing in downtown, welcoming visitors, supporting one another, and helping create a community they're proud to be a part of. Our role is to bring these efforts together, amplify them, and help them succeed. I'd also like to sincerely thank mayor and council, city staff, our board of directors, our businesses, our volunteers, our sponsors, and our many community partners, 'cause none of the work that we've talked about tonight happens in isolation. It takes collaboration, trust, and a shared commitment to building a vibrant community. We're grateful to be a part of that work, and we're excited about what's ahead. Thank you so much. Uh, thank you so much for the presentation. I know we have- Thank you ... uh, Councillor Mac has a question, and Councillor Albrecht as well virtually. Uh, but I just wanted to say, uh, I share on behalf of all of council, we really appreciate the partnership we've had, uh, with the DLBA, and obviously our partner through a contract, DLC, over the years. And I did see some of your online stuff organically pop up as well on my feed, um, with the news articles that you ran, so thank you. Uh, so Councillor Mac.Uh, thank you, Mayor Bhalla. Through the mayor, um, I just wanted to say thank you for your presentation. I was a member of the DLBA for well over 15 years, so, you know, pretty familiar with you guys, and it's nice to see you here in this capacity. Um, I did have a question. In the 2025, um, AGM package, it talked about your guys' revenue, um, and specifically government grants municipal are referenced at 1.044 million. So I'm just... And that's obviously, I just have it in front of me. Um, but I was hoping that maybe you could discuss a little bit more the funding model and the contributions that come to the DLBA from the municipal level of government, 'cause I find that that's a gap when I talk with, uh, residents and taxpayers, that they're not aware, um, that we contribute a lot to the DLBA. So I was hoping you could speak to that. Sure. Through the mayor to Councilor Mac. Uh, that's a great question, and I think the AGM financials you're referring to is a combination of both DLC and DLBA, 'cause when they're, um, uh, at, at the AGM level, they're combined together. So separately, the DLBA receives funding from business levy, whereas obviously DLC receives it from hotel room stays. So those two amounts are combined to form the one million between the two different organizations. Thank you. You're welcome. Uh, thank you, Councilor. Albrecht. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Can you hear me okay? Uh, yes, we can. Okay, great. Uh, my feed seems a little wonky. So, uh, I just wanted to express my appreciation for the presentation, and, uh, I feel that, uh, we're very fortunate to have Chris and Taryn and your team doing some incredible work, uh, to bring, uh, awareness to Langley City, and I just wanted to thank you so very much. Uh, thank you, Councilor. Uh, Councilor Wallace, and then White. Yeah. Um, I also wanna say thank you very much for, for all you're, you guys are doing and, uh, the summer concert series are amazing and the growth of the, the audience and all ages, fun, and it's so nice on the, uh, in, you know, on the one way now with, you know, wider, wider sidewalks and the tables and the chairs. It seems like everybody's spreading out. But it is a full show, and, uh, just congratulations on that. And just wanted to commend you for, um, the Downtown Dollars and how you're always there to support community and events, and you've supported the, the film festival in the past and Earth Day as well, and among other things. And just wanted to congratulate you with the partnership with Inclusion Langley with the Get Fresh program. So yeah, very proud of what you guys do. Thank you. Councilor White. Thank you, Mayor Bhalla. Just wanted to express my thanks to both of your organizations for the partnership that we have with you and the incredible work that you do. Um, I'd like to say I am one of your biggest fans. I think I could say that, but I think I would be outdone by many of the businesses that are recipients of your efforts and your work. Um, your, uh, team, I'm astonished when I see, uh, your team, uh, what you're able to accomplish, and, uh, the incredible output that, um, uh, you're able to produce. And so I think, uh, there's a, a great value that's being, um, experienced. Uh, my two favorite seasons in the downtown are summer and Christmas. Um, you know, and, and I think that resonates with a lot of, uh, the community who participate in the, you know, programs to the experiences and the environment that's created, uh, in bringing people together, and you're doing a brilliant job in social media and getting the, the word out there in a fun, vibrant, informative, and exciting way. So, um, kudos to you. Uh, have, uh, two quick questions, um, if I may, Mayor. Um, and that is, um, in, in, uh, in follow-up to the investment over the last year, uh, in the Fraser, uh, Fraser one-way strip upgrade and renewal that took place, um, how are you finding and what is the feedback that is coming to you, um, from, uh, that investment and, um, uh, the impact that it's having on the businesses? Recently, we were just recognized again, uh, for, uh, this project, um, from, um, a organization within BC. So that's encouraging. It's nice to see. But what's the tangible? What are our businesses saying? So that would be one of my questions. Uh, through the mayor to Councilor White, um, that's a great question. I feel that the feedback have, has been wonderful, and I think the biggest takeaway is, say, the McBurney Plaza Summer Concert Series, people constantly coming up and just saying, "I, I haven't been down here forever, and it's just incredible. I, I wanna come down more." It's really encouraging that people are seeing the bright umbrellas. They're hearing the live music. They're seeing the wider sidewalks. And Taryn and I have gone to speak to a few different associations, including the Langley Seniors Re- Resource Society, for example, and just, uh, explained to them just how welcoming it is now and how much brighter it is and, and how much, much easier to navigate the routes it is, and that's why we laid into that a little bit too on the redevelopment of the mural walk map by saying it's, it's accessible for everybody. And I think before, with the bricks and everything kind of uneven, there was concern about, you know, tripping. It was darker. And even Arts Alive, I noticed last year, despite the, the, the project not being completely finished, that- There was just that much more room behind the tents where people- the businesses felt it because more people could easily get into their stores. They could also navigate the festival, and it just felt brighter and bigger. Mm. So I think that's really positive. And, and yeah, to the businesses, they are all... The ones that I've spoken to have been really optimistic about the future. I think, you know, they went through a few hard years, uh, you know, coming out of COVID, and then the revitalization. It just seems like there's always something happening, you know? But I feel like people are really positive or, and, and really, uh, excited about what's going on right now. Awesome. So hopefully we can maintain that momentum. And again, that's thanks to the support of all these different organizations we spoke about. Awesome. Thank you. I'll just leave it at that. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you. Uh, just, uh, quickly, did... Councillor James, did you have a question still? I saw your hand was up and it's down now. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am- got a glitch here, so [clears throat] it's gonna come later than I'm speaking. But it does my heart good to see that, uh, the DLVA and DLC is being left in such incredible hands, and the changes that are being made are positive, always while maintaining the heart and soul of what the DLVA was. And I just really wanna commend you, Chris, and you, Taryn. Um, you've just taken it to the next level, and I'm very proud, and I'm very happy for both of you. That's all I wanted to say. Thank you so much, Councillor. Councillor Solomon. Great. Thanks. I've just got two questions. Um, in the past, when I've gone to Arts Live, it was pedestrian only. I just want to check, is it gonna be pedestrian only again this time? Great. Um- So yes. That's a yes. Yes. And then is that also true for, uh, Fork and Finger? No, it's not. Okay. So I was just gonna, I guess, as a follow-up, um, will the expanded sidewalks be i- incorporated into the Fork and Finger f- in that case? Like, how does that work? Y- yeah, great question. Uh, through the mayor to, uh, Councillor Solomon. Uh, the, the... You're correct. The Fraser Highway one-way is shut down to traffic between 204th and 206th, as it always has been, so there's no, no traffic during that day. Fork and Finger has never been blocked off, which is nice. We still have the parking down there. But we noticed even last year with the revitalization, still kind of under work, so it's still a construction zone, the, you know, in that the road wasn't drivable yet. Um, the businesses started having 10-by-10 tents out front of their restaurants and, and serving samples there, and the streets really came alive, and it was really neat to see that. We'd seen that in previous years, like, little, little drabs here. Uh, but it was neat to see how many of them, and I think each one of them looked at their neighbors and went, "Ooh, next year I'm gonna do that too." So I think you'll see more and more street activations, which is really nice, and I think that's to, to one of the points about the wider sidewalks, is you started to see a couple cute umbrellas and little bistro sets. And I think that there also adds to just that feeling of downtown. So yeah, so you'll witness more of that at Fork and Finger as well. Still be the hub in McGroarty Plaza, but people are walking up and down those sidewalks, and, and there's gonna be little activations throughout the downtown core, which will be great to see. Great. Wonderful. And then I just have a follow-up. Um, Councillor Mac asked about, um, I guess, municipal subsidy for you guys, and then you responded by saying it's a business levy and a hotel levy. I just wasn't sure. So is it directly coming from the city, or is it coming from these levies, uh, or is it a mix of the two? Sure. Um, through the mayor to, uh, Councillor Solomon. So the, um, municipal and regional district tax that Discover Langley City receives, or, um, MRDT, is through hotel overnight stays currently at 2% for the, um, hotel accommodations, and, um, that is facilitated through the provincial government. Um, and then if Chris wants to specify to the levy. Yeah, so there, theirs comes through the overnight stays with the tourism levy. Uh, and then the, the BIA is, is through a bylaw through the business, um, property taxes, that it's a levy on the business property owners that's paid. So that's not coming from residential taxes. I see. Yeah. And so just to clarify, so it's not the municipality, it's not Langley City funding directly either of your organizations, it's through these levies instead? Um, the City of Langley is the, um, designated recipient of the MRDT, and then Discover Langley City is the service provider. Um, but that is again from, um, the Ministry of Finance. Got it. Yeah. Thank you so much for the clarification. Thank you. Uh, any other questions or comments? Uh, thank you so much again for the presentation. I hope you both have a wonderful evening. You're free to stay or go, whatever you prefer, so. [laughs] Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Very much appreciate it. Uh, so our next council meetings are September 21st, followed by September 28th. Is there any council advisory updates? So seeing none, I'll move on to the administrative reports. So item 8A. The first is that council approve the manager of engineering and parks operations and tradesmen, uh, water meter coordinator to attend the 2026 Neptune Connect Users Conference in Minette, Ontario from October 26th to 28th, 2026. Is there a mover and seconder? Moved by Councillor Wallace, seconded by Councillor White. Any further discussion? So seeing none, I'll call the question. All those in favor? Opposed? So that's carried unanimously. On to 8B. Um, if you would like me to speak, I am more than happy to. Otherwise, I'd just like to move what's written in our agenda. Uh, so is there a seconder for that or... Councillor White. Further discussion on that? So seeing none, I'll call the question. All those in favor? Any opposed? So that's carried unanimously. On to item 8C, uh, which is the roadway and cycling improvements. Again, uh, I would like to just move that as the four recommendations in our agenda and see if there's a seconder. Uh, so seconded by Councillor Wallace. Further discussion? Councillor Mac. Uh, thank you, Mayor Paul. Through the mayor to staff, um, I'm just curious whether there was any way to separate the tri- traffic signal upgrades and the road repaving from the, um- ... cycling infrastructure upgrades, uh, because as it appears in the agenda, it's a 4.4 million for, uh, s- bypass roadway and cycling improvements, so I'm just... I feel conflicted because it's all lumped into one tender. Um, the vast majority of this tender is for, um, cycling improvements, which from my perspec- perspective are underutilized, so I was just hoping to get clarity as to whether or not or why this was tendered together. Uh, so I think the question is can the tender be separated? And I will ask, um, at this point in time in this meeting right now, can you separate the tender? And I'll turn that to staff. Reach... Yeah, sorry. I, I don't know if... Who would like to respond to that? Thank you. Uh, thank you for that question, Councillor Mac. Um, at this stage, it- we couldn't separate the tender. We'd have to close it. But the reason we combine them is the work is integrated, and when you're inputting in the multi-use path, the work that we're already doing with the intersection improvements, it, it, it all works together, and we have more efficiencies and cost savings as we do the work all tendered. They're all, they're all combined. To do the ped- the cycling improvements, the multi-use path, to move the curb lanes, you're already in- working in that intersection. Uh, I'm not sure if that covers your, your question. So I think to be direct, we can't split it up right now in this meeting. We cannot. Yeah. No, definitely. Um, I guess I just more am asking not necessarily a mechanism to split it up immediately right now, but when it actually goes out to tender, I do view that there are three different elements to this project, um, the most costly one being the cycling improvements. So I guess, um, to be more succinct, if this was to referred back to staff, or if council ended up voting this tender down, um, would it be possible to go back to market for the traffic signal upgrades and the road paving, which I'm very much in favor of? Uh, to staff. Uh, thanks to, uh, Councillor Mac. Um, the, the, the tender has gone out, and it has closed, so this is the, um, uh, report to award the tender. Mm-hmm. So if we, if it was decided that council did not want to award that tender, it would have to be canceled, and we would have to then redesign the project into different phases to separate those out and tender them separately. We could not tender it as is. We'd have to redesign it into the three separate portions. It means coming back and, and, uh, redoing work in intersections, um, and prolonging that work over many months, possibly years, and coming back and, and doing, um, w- ripping out work that we've, we've already done as part of, uh, the bike improvements and- or the intersection improvements. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Councillor Albrecht. Uh, yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And, and just for clarity, uh, and maybe staff could, um, make sure that I'm correct on this, I see that we're getting almost $3 million, uh, through a combination of TransLink funding and, uh, some, uh, bicycle infrastructure capital cost share and, uh, walking infrastructure, um, and major network, uh, programs. So, um, uh, a lot of this, um, like the component of the Langley Bypass roadway and cycling, it isn't just cycling. It's, it's a combination of roadwork, multi-path, and cycling. Is that correct? Uh, through to staff. Uh, through the mayor to Council Albrecht, that is correct. We have just about 3 million in funding from TransLink, and those are all part of the programs, the funding programs. Uh, do you have any further questions or comments, Councillor Albrecht? No, I'm good. Thank you very much. Uh, any other questions or comments? Councillor Mac. Yeah, thank you. Just, um, I do feel challenged when these applications come forward. I alluded towards this, or actually referenced it during the budget, because we have five different options to apply for various different TransLink grants. And because of our strategic initiatives with the council majority, we regularly apply for active transportation grants. So by the time these applications come to us, while it... yes, we are getting TransLink money, at the end of the day it's because of strategic direction, and we could have actually, uh, we could have applied for any of the other four categories of TransLink grants. So yes, we have TransLink funding now. Um, you know, I, I just feel frustrated, I guess, in some regard. I do believe that we should be reprioritizing our capital expenditures as well as the money that we are applying for with TransLink to... so that this money we can get and then better, uh, invest it into roads, um, more or less. So I think we are here. We have this application. There's TransLink funding that's already been secured over a number of years. Um, that is the large proportionate share of the bike lanes that are zoomed with this- You're on mute. Oh, sorry, Councillor. That's, uh, completely out of line. Yeah. Sorry, Councillor Mac. Um, d- are you okay to continue? Yeah. Okay. Um, okay. So, uh, I will continue, I guess, on with the conversation here. Um, one of the things that I would like to comment on on this tender, um, is that just from a perspective of the different accounts, we do get a base allocation from TransLink for walking, um, for cycling, and for the major road network components as well. Uh, so those are things that are... we get as a per capita funding. So that's something here that I just wanted to kind of point out in that discussion. Uh, so those are things that we get kind of, you know, regardless, and then we can apply as well for the different programs. So, um, I guess I'll just leave it at that. And just double check with staff, this project, is there any... Is this all funded by TransLink and DCCs?Sorry, let me check. Yes, we have TransLink funding. Um, oh, sorry, I have my notes right here. Correct. We have funding through TransLink, DCC, and, uh, yeah, funding, TransLink and DCC funding. Thank you. Um, and I would like to just follow-up and, uh, with Councilor Mac that we, um, funding is, is... I, I, uh, appreciate where she's coming from. We do have our Transportation 2050 that was recently endorsed and adopted by council, that'll help us be more strategic in our planning and, uh, of making sure we're applying for the grants that we know will go ahead. Um, there are m- multi-year lead time with TransLink, so we do try to make sure we're doing that, and the Tr- Transportation master plan does help us focus on that. Uh, thank you so much. Uh, just a quick technical thing. Is C- um, Councilor James in the meeting right now? Okay, perfect. Thank you. Awesome. Okay, um, any other discussion on this? Uh, Councilor Wallace? Um, yeah, I guess maybe through the mayor in, in regards to our 20- 2050 that you spoke about, in regards to cycling, um, I mean, I think that's [laughs], that we should be pushing that more. Not that I'm... I, you know, I just, I don't understand, um, in regards to the transit in the... You know, there was part of that plan was going to Langley Secondary School, the roadwork. And just to explain that in the continuum of our, our bicycle net- our cycling network, um, just to talk in regards of how we are. Because sometimes it's like a piece, and then it's another piece, and it's another piece. But what is our, our plan in, in syncing that with the township and other, um, networks? Uh, let's turn that over to staff as well. Uh, thank you, Councilor Wallace. Uh, we do have been coordinating with the townships. They are currently going, the townships are going through their updated plan. Uh, we did meet with them on this project to make sure we were aligned with their future. The Transportation 2050 has identified priorities, um, high priorities and medium priorities when it comes to our cycling and pedestrian networks, and we'll be using those to guide us on our projects forward. The Langley Bypass was identified in the higher priority ca- category of needing upgrades for facilities for pedestrians and bicycles. Thank you so much. Uh, any other discussion on this one? Councilor White? Thank you, Mayor Bhalla. Uh, through you to staff, just a, a question, a clarification. Um, I remember previously there was a, uh, conversation, um, regarding the l- the, or there was a comment regarding the multi-year process, um, that's involved in these applications, and I'm just curious, how far back does the application go with TransLink regarding this project? And, um, l- for me, that's a consideration this, in this whole project, is the amount of energy that's been put out, um, versus, you know, when w- we kinda get injected into the process as new councilors, for instance. Um, so yeah, how, how long has this been in the works, um, for our application with TransLink and the planning that's gone into it? Thank you. Uh, through the mayor to Councilor White, thank you for that. We did get approval from, uh, TransLink in 2023 for this funding. W- that's when we first applied through, um, allocated and competitive funding, and we have three years to construct once they're approved. And we also applied for additional funding in 2024 and '25. Um, prior to 2023, the work that t- went into pre-doing this, I'd, I'd have to, um... There was, um, enough to be able to, the concept and preliminary budget, so. But 2023 was when we first applied for funding. Thank you so much. Uh, thank you. Um, and then I just wanted to check if Councilor Albrecht had a question or comments. Uh, y- yeah, it's more of a point of order, Mr. Mayor. I want to apologize to all members of, uh, of council and staff. Um, I'm, uh, remote right now. Somebody came in and interrupted me, and, uh, I didn't know I hadn't been put on mute, so I, I apologize. It was nothing to do with the council meeting. It was somebody that was interrupting my attention to the council meeting. So I just wanted to clarify that. I'm embarrassed, I'm sorry, and I'll be more diligent. Uh, that's noted. Um, so with that, um, Councilor Mac. Uh, I think that, I just wanted to say that I'm glad that some of this behavior is coming out in public now. So I think a lot of things have, have been said, and so I will just leave it there. Uh, so on the question of this, um, all those in favor? Opposed? So is there none opposed to this? So then that's carried unanimously. So that brings us on to item 8D. So I would like to move all four of those recommendations as presented in the agenda and see if there's a seconder. Seconded by Councilor James. Uh, further discussion on this? Councilor White. Thank you, Mayor. Um, th- through, uh, the mayor to staff. Um, I see that there is, uh, the estimate on this, um, was 22% below the, uh, uh, budget, and I'm just curious about, uh, you know- The difference between what the original budget was and what the accepted bid was, which, which was significantly less, and I'm just wondering what the reason for that may have been. Thank you. And I'll turn that to staff. So- Yeah. Yes. Uh, Councilor White, thank you for that. We are seeing in the region some, uh, tenders are coming in a bit lower. It's a competitive market out there right now, and city capital projects are benefiting from that. So that is what we're seeing i- is that companies are, are putting their best bids forward to get work. Thank you so much. Uh, any other discussion on this one? Uh, so I'll just, uh, add a kind of a general comment. Uh, we did, uh, approve our budget last year, and so we moved the process about three months forward. And so in the past, we've seen a lot of the paving projects almost, like, a year delayed just because of the way it would work out with the budget. Then it gets tendered in September, then it rains, and so the work actually doesn't happen until the following spring and summer. Uh, this year we've been able to actually get these tenders out, well, essentially a year and a bit earlier. So it's really exciting to see that these are all starting construction, uh, as- if this one is approved, all in August. So it should be wrapped up by the end of the year. So I think that's one of the benefits that I've seen, uh, with that process of moving things forward. We're just able to get this work done earlier. So, uh, with that in mind, I'll call the question on this one. All those in favor? Opposed? So that's carried unanimously. And on to the final item, which is the fire hall building envelope. I'd like to move those recommendations as presented in the agenda as well. Seconded by Councilor Wallace. Any further discussion on this? Uh, so seeing none, I'll call the question. All those in favor? Opposed? So that's carried unanimously. Uh, on to the public release of information. Just as a note, so that's just from the Invest Langley City, which is already available online. And so we're on to the correspondence, uh, which is from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. So I think, Councilor Wallace, what would you like to do with this correspondence? Um, yeah, just the, the call for stronger heat protections following the fifth anniversary of BC heat dome. And like you said, um, I would just like to move this referral to staff to see if we can work with, uh, some more information. And they're asking us, um, uh, to meet and discuss how we can work together to protect residents from extreme heat. And am I- Yeah, so I guess your recommendation- Okay ... is you might... If I- Yep ... if I may, your recommendation might be to refer this to staff for a response back to the organization? Yes. Okay. And can I elaborate or no? I will second it, and now you can. Thank you. Um, just New Westminster's done a lot of great work in, in this area, and I feel that we have a lot of older, um, condos and apartments, and I worry about, um, you know, what we'll experience as far as heat dome. So just as, you know, it's gonna take some, some time to redevelop some areas, and some will exist for some time. So I'm, I'm just, uh, wanting to bring this forward. Thank you. Uh, thank you so much. Is there any further discussion on this one? Okay, so seeing none, we'll call the question on this. All those in favor? Any opposed? So there's none opposed, so that's carried. So that brings to adjournment, so I'll move that we adjourn. Is there a seconder? Councilor White. Yes. So I'll call the question. All those in favor? Opposed? So we are adjourned, and I'll see you in September. Thank you.