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$200 million water bill looms | November 23, 2009
High density potential planned in city core | May 18, 2009
Density a must, says Mayor | May 18, 2009
Railing for trainsit | April 13, 2009
$20 for McCallum interchange | April 8, 2009
Port Mann Bridge or Light Rail Metro? | March 25, 2009
Can the Valley stay out of TransLink? | March 18, 2009
Transit report gives Abby low grade | November 19, 2008
Abbotsford set to embrace light rail | November 03, 2008
Helicopters at Abbotsford Airport | November 03, 2008
City Expands Cycling Lanes | October 20, 2008
Abby Olympic LiveSite | October 27, 2008
$200 million water bill looms
Abbotsford and Mission residents can expect more summer sprinkling bans, and higher bills, as the cities attempt to buy time before investing many millions of dollars to upgrade the local water supply.
The news comes as the two communities finalize their joint water master plan, due for official release in December, which lays out recommendations for the next 15 years to make sure reservoirs don’t run dry.
According to a draft version of the document, Abbotsford and Mission – which share a water source – will need to invest $198 million before 2015 to tap into Stave Lake north of Mission. That would be followed by another $41 million expenditure before 2024 to complete the project.
Higher water rates would fund a portion of the bill, according to Abbotsford Mayor George Peary.
Developers would also pay a hefty chunk, since they need the additional water source to serve their future construction projects. The mayor also hopes senior government will chip in.
“They (water rates) will continue to climb over the next decade because we have to pay for this capital expenditure,” said Peary.
Water and sewer bills have been on the increase in Abbotsford, a trend Peary said has been mirrored in much of Metro Vancouver. In 2007, an average home (using 325 cubic metres of water a year) paid $208. In 2008, that amount increased to $253, and in 2009 it was hiked to $279.
Earlier this year, city staff predicted the average levy would increase to $305 in 2010.
Water rates and other utilities are paid by homeowners each year, in addition to property taxes.
The Stave Lake project could theoretically be deferred beyond 2015, according to Peary, but would require less water usage on Abbotsford and Mission’s hottest days.
The water supply can handle a maximum of 143 million litres a day, before the reservoirs are replenished overnight, meaning the two communities only have to worry about the peak daily demand, since the supply is replaced.
With a watering ban implemented in both cities this summer, a peak of 136 million litres was reached during one day in July.
With demand for water set to increase before 2015, Peary said that future summer sprinkling restrictions – and other water conservation measures – are inevitable.
Peary described Stave Lake as the “best bang for the buck” in terms of a new water source, estimating that it would serve Abbotsford and Mission’s needs for more than 25 years.
Getting the water from Stave Lake to Abbotsford will require 24 kilometres of pipe stretching along Dewdney Trunk Road and Cedar Street in Mission, across the Fraser River, and then up Gladwin Road to a reservoir on Maclure Road in Abbotsford.
There would be an intake in the lake where the water would be piped to a treatment plant on Dewdney Trunk. At this site, there would also be a “balancing reservoir” feeding the water to the treatment plant at a constant rate. There would be an expansion to the Maclure reservoir in Abbotsford, although no more reservoirs would be needed in Mission.
Any application to tap into Stave Lake needs approval from the province, which could theoretically be granted before the end of 2010.
Water statistics
– While the local water supply can handle 143 million litres of water a day, the average daily demand is 78 million litres.
– The peak in summer 2009 was 136 million litres. In 2007, without a sprinkling ban, peak daily usage hit 142 million litres.
– Abbotsford and Mission’s water supply currently comes from Norrish Creek (89 million litres a day), Cannell Lake (nine million litres) and from 17 groundwater wells (45 million litres)
– By 2031, the daily demand for water in Abbotsford and Mission is predicted to double.
This aerial image shows the city core of Abbotsford, with Mill Lake at the centre. The city has specifically identified South Fraser Way, Marshall Road and McCallum Road as being some of the possibilities for higher density.
High density potential planned in city core
At 80 metres and 28 storeys, a bid to build a tower that would have become Abbotsford’s tallest building fell flat last week as city council voted it down.
The Mahogany at Mill Lake proposal would have changed the face of Abbotsford’s Bevan and Gladwin roads forever, but a public backlash prompted civic politicians to narrowly vote no.
It leaves a key question, though. If not there, then where?
Since rewriting its Official Community Plan in 2005, the City of Abbotsford has allowed buildings of between 50 metres and (164 feet) and 80 metres (262 feet) in a push to build upwards instead of outwards.
Nothing higher than 50 metres was allowed before that, which means that Abbotsford’s tallest existing buildings peak at 16 storeys.
With Sumas Mountain to the east and Agricultural Land Reserve farmland to the west, vacant development plots in Abbotsford are at a premium. And with a population that is predicted to grow from approximately 135,000 in 2009 to 200,000 by 2021, the need for more housing is obvious.
A 2005 report highlighting population predictions for the Fraser Valley Regional District – of which Abbotsford is a part – said the area from Abbotsford to Hope is expected to jump from 254,000 to 462,000 residents by 2031.
As a result, the report stated that the demand for new apartments “will be rapid.”
In 2005, the city pinpointed large chunks of Abbotsford – primarily in its centre – that it said could be suitable for high-rises due to their close proximity to shops, transit, employment opportunities and roads that could handle increased traffic. Those areas are highlighted on a map on the front page..
It means that a tower proposal in any of those areas would at least be considered by city staff and council.
In a bid to create a more built-up city centre, the city has specifically identified South Fraser Way, Marshall Road and McCallum Road as being some of the possibilities for higher density.
Areas in and around Essendene Avenue, McDougall Avenue, Bourquin Crescent, Ware Street, George Ferguson Way, Trethewey Street are other possibilities.
However, much will depend on what tower proposals are brought to council by developers.
Abbotsford’s growth upwards is inevitable, according to City of Abbotsford development services general manager Grant Acheson.
“I think it’s essential to the growth of the city,” he said. “In terms of development . . . we don’t have a lot of vacant land for that. We are quickly coming to the point where we have to go up instead of out.”
Acheson said it is expensive to service residential lots on mountainsides with roads, water and sewer. It therefore makes more sense to densify the city centre where these services already exist, he said.
The push towards higher density is already happening in Abbotsford.
In the past two or three years, he said there has been a desire to build more apartments and townhouses rather than single family homes.
When it comes to towers, however, there is more scope for public opposition due to increased traffic concerns and the prospect of shadows being cast on neighbours’ properties.
The shadowing effect is inevitable, according to Quantum Properties president and CEO Diane Delves.
Quantum Properties was the Abbotsford company which proposed the Mahogany at Mill Lake project.
“There’s a shadowing impact, there’s no doubt about that,” Delves said in a previous interview with the Abbotsford News.
“We do not go into a project looking to disrupt our neighbours but unfortunately that’s going to happen. If you are going to live in the centre of a city, your environment is going to change at some point.”
Density a must, says mayor
Pressure will start to mount on city council to approve higher density developments as demand for more housing increases, according to Abbotsford Mayor George Peary.
The mayor, who voted in favour of the Mahogany at Mill Lake tower , said council will need to start backing high-rise proposals or risk facing a housing shortage in years to come.
Council voted 5-4 to deny the Mahogany tower.
“Nobody likes living beside a tower, but the objections raised [by residents beside the Mahogany site] are the same objections raised by the opponents of every tower proposal,” said Peary.
“The arguments are always the same; ‘yes we like higher density, but we don’t like it here.’ “
Despite the Mahogany project being turned down, however, Peary believes council does support densification and is likely to back future tower applications.
“At the end of the day, you have to do what is the greatest good for the greatest number of people,” he said.
“I think the pressure is going to mount. At the end of the day, people know we need to increase densities.”
Rain did not dampen the spirits of Rail for the Valley advocates Maureen Perry (left), Lynne Perrin, Joel Smart and Kurtis Smejkal as they protested government spending on Gateway on Saturday on the McCallum Road overpass.
Railing for transit
Rail for the Valley and supporters of the group staged a 100-kilometre-long public demonstration on Saturday.
Participants hung signs with slogans such as “Climate crisis” and “Transit not freeways” off Highway 1 overpasses from Chilliwack through to Vancouver to protest against the provincial government’s spending on the Gateway plan.
Local Rail for the Valley spokesman John Vissers stood on the McCallum Road overpass in Abbotsford with a group of sign-toting rail advocates. He noted on Tuesday that Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon stood on that same overpass to announce its pending $25-million replacement. Vissers said it is important the new overpass be built with the capacity for light rail.
“All the successful, livable cities are adopting light rail,” he said. “If light rail catches on, there won’t be as much need to expand the road system.”
The Day of Action organizer, John Buker of Chilliwack, called for protest when Victoria decided to step in and pay more than double the original cost of the Gateway project after private contractors pulled out of the plan. Buker called the government move “a slap in the face” to Fraser Valley residents, who will pay “a heavy proportion” of the $3.3-billion cost without a word about extending light rail transit beyond Vancouver.
“For half the cost of Kevin Falcon’s Canada Line, for example, we could have had a deluxe light rail service all the way to Chilliwack,” Buker told Black Press.
NDP leader Carole James has admitted the Port Mann/Highway 1 expansion project will proceed even if her party forms government after the May 12 election.
Transportation minister Kevin Falcon said last week the contract was signed in late March with Peter Kiewit Sons Co. and Flatiron Constructors Canada to build the new 10-lane toll bridge and widened highway at an agreed cost of $2.46 billion.
The financing costs as well as maintenance over the 35-year term will bring the total bill to $3.1 billion, to be paid for by tolls.
Vissers said Saturday’s protest succeeded in putting this issue before government.
“There was a bit of a media scrum with Premier (Gordon) Campbell after the event,” said Vissers. “And he’s very supportive.”
Vissers said he is not personally opposed to highway widening and replacing the Port Mann Bridge. However, his group wants government to invest some of its considerable spending on highways and metro public transit into a Fraser Valley passenger rail system.
“The objective is to have alternatives to driving, so we don’t have to use the car all the time, everywhere we go,” said Vissers.
He has been named to the provincial government’s Transit Public Advisory Committee, which will meet for the first time on Thursday. He has long been an advocate of reviving the former interurban electric line, which operated from 1910 to 1950 between Chilliwack and New Westminster. He says its the most affordable option.
“Just put a train on the tracks and see what happens.”
He points out that Abbotsford’s transit has been recognized as sub-par. The Appleton Foundation gave the Abbotsford-Mission area a D letter grade in a national survey of sustainable urban transportation in fall 2008. Its rank was the lowest of the B.C. communities surveyed, behind Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna.
“We’ve designed our community around the availability of cars.”
Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon and local politicians announce funding for a new McCallum Road Interchange.
$20 million for McCallum interchange
The drivers of the 47,000 vehicles which clog Abbotsford’s outdated McCallum Interchange each day will soon have a remedy to their road rage.
That at least is the goal mapped out by a team of politicians, who announced a new $25 million link between McCallum Road and Highway One in Abbotsford on Tuesday morning.
B.C. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Kevin Falcon unveiled the plan, alongside Abbotsford MP Ed Fast, local MLAS and numerous other dignitaries.
The $25 million bill has been split three ways, between the City of Abbotsford, Victoria and Ottawa.
Originally built in the 1960s, Falcon said the existing McCallum Interchange has to contend with traffic that far exceeds its capacity at peak times.
“This is going to be a lot safer and a lot better for all motorists,” he said.
Highlights of the new interchange, Falcon said, will include longer merge lanes, an overpass capable of handling more vehicles, and traffic pattern changes to ensure cars do not back onto Highway 1.
The investment in the McCallum area is particularly timely, Falcon said, to help connect people to the new hospital and to the entertainment and sports complex which is scheduled to open in May.
To qualify for federal funding, Fast said the City of Abbotsford had to commit to have the interchange completed before 2011.
The city’s portion of the funding has been budgeted, having been raised in recent years through the collection of development cost charges.
Jim Gordon, the city’s engineering director, said detailed design work will now be carried out before the interchange project is put out to tender. He expects construction to start by this fall.
Want One Port Mann Bridge, or a Light Rail Metropolis?
UBC team says region could be transformed for $3.1 billion cost of span.
Last month British Columbians learned the public-private partnership to finance and build the Port Mann Bridge had fallen through.
 Same money would buy this light rail system say Dow and Condon. |
The provincial government now intends to go it alone, spending $3.1 billion to erect a new 10-lane bridge and widen the road on either end. The government is betting it eventually will recoup the costs by charging tolls starting at $3 per trip and likely to rise.
When the news broke, most of the debate was about whether the deal had been mismanaged. But a team of sustainable community design experts at the University of British Columbia got out their calculators and pursued a different question. They started with the assumption that public money isn't unlimited. They wondered how many citizens would get a real benefit from the finished bridge. And they folded in a goal that B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell espouses: reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
What other transportation infrastructure, they asked, could we instead have for $3.1 billion?
By the time Prof. Patrick Condon and researcher Kari Dow at the UBC Design Centre for Sustainability finished punching in the numbers and mapped their results, they produced a startling alternative vision. For the same money, concluded the team, the government could finance a 200-kilometre light rail network that would place a modern, European-style tram within a 10-minute walk for 80 per cent of all residents in Surrey, White Rock, Langley and the Scott Road district of Delta, while providing a rail connection from Surrey to the new Evergreen line and connecting Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge into the regional rail system.
Big savings on greenhouse emissions
"We were not trying to show a detailed system plan, we just were trying to demonstrate that it seems to be a very lot of money for one bridge when compared to an alternative way of spending the same amount," said Dow.
If half of the roughly 40 million annual trips anticipated for the new bridge were shifted to such a tram system, it would amount to a reduction of the roughly 10,000 metric tons of GHG per year, a reduction equivalent to taking more than 21,000 cars off Lower Mainland roads completely. This amount does not include the likely far greater reductions of car use throughout the south of Fraser region that would result from the light rail network, said Dow.
Compared to the 200 km grid of light rail, the Port Mann Bridge, including approach spans, is a mere 2,093 metres long, though the entire project actually extends 37 km and includes widening Highway 1, adding two lanes each way on the east side of the bridge and an extra lane in both directions on the west side.
Dow and Condon factored in the cost of tearing down the original Port Mann Bridge and erecting a brand new one, as current plans dictate. They based their comparative figures on proven costs per kilometre for building a type of high-speed light rail tram widely used in places like Alicante, Spain; Budapest, Hungary; and Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Changing the commute culture
They point out that while building a bigger Port Mann Bridge reinforced commuting patterns in the region, building a robust light rail network likely would change how development occurs in the region, eventually shortening commutes as businesses elect to locate at various new public transit nodes.
"The Port Mann project is propelled forward by assumptions that are 20 years out of date. Commuting patterns are changing rapidly. The commute from Surrey to downtown Vancouver is relatively rare and getting even rarer each day. Jobs continue to move closer to housing all across the eastern part of the metropolis. What is needed is a system that gets us out of the car and serves our emerging complete communities, not guts them," said Condon.
Original vision changed
The Port Mann bridge deal started with a privately financed plan to twin the existing span to allow traffic to move faster through what's become a commuting choke point. The plan changed, and became more expensive, when the government announced it had decided, with its private partners, to tear down the old bridge and build a much bigger new one. Then on Feb. 26, the project's main private partner, Australian infrastructure firm Macquarie Group, dropped out as its stock price plummeted and credit tightened amidst the global financial downturn.
"We have determined that a traditionally financed arrangement is the better way to proceed at the current time," Falcon said when the deal fell through. "With P3s, every deal has got to stand on its own merits. If we can't make a deal that makes sense for us and for taxpayers, we don't do it."
The province will hire two of the remaining partners -- Peter Kiewit Sons Co. and Flatiron Constructors Canada -- to design and build the bridge at a previously agreed cost of $2.46 billion. Those private contractors will be obligated to absorb any cost overruns. The rest of the $3.1 billion price tag is for financing and maintenance costs.
Billions earmarked for mega-projects
The B.C. government is intending to build a number of other large transportation infrastructure projects, including a $1 billion Perimeter Road truck freeway between Deltaport and Highway 1, the $1.4 billion Evergreen Line extending SkyTrain to Coquitlam, and a $2.8 billion, 15 km SkyTrain spur along Broadway in Vancouver out to the UBC campus.
The expenditures are so huge, notes Condon, that "whatever the merits or demerits of the Port Mann proposal, we feel that the taxpayer only has so much in their pockets and these expenditures are gigantic. A real comparison between reasonable alternatives would enhance our ability to choose wisely. How we deploy the available billions on transportation infrastructure over the next 10 to 15 years will determine how sustainable this region will or won't be 100 years from now. We simply have to get it right."
When the UBC SkyTrain line was announced last spring, Condon and Dow produced a study showing that the same money could build a 175 km lattice of light rail lines restoring Vancouver's former trolley system and extending into bordering locales.
View full article and comments here:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2009/03/25/LightRail/
Can the Valley stay out of TransLink?
The Fraser Valley so far remains a TransLink-free zone, exempt from the authority's transportation taxes and levies that are proposed to climb sharply.
Motorists already drive east out of Metro Vancouver to avoid the 12-cent gas tax that funds TransLink.
And no wonder.
The dedicated fuel tax costs $200 per year for the average driver in Metro Vancouver.
That would rise another $50 if TransLink exercises its power to jack the gas tax another three cents a litre.
A possible $100 per vehicle levy is under consideration to help fund transit expansion.
And the more than $200 in property taxes a typical home pays to TransLink is also expected to rise.
Add it up and a two-car family in Langley could soon be paying close to $700 a year more than their neighbours to the east in Abbotsford.
How long can such a disparity between Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley continue?
Transportation minister Kevin Falcon redesigned TransLink in 2007 with the intent that it would expand to cover the entire region east to Hope and north to Whistler and Pemberton.
But he has maintained since then that any expansion of TransLink into new areas would only happen voluntarily, with the consent of those cities.
Falcon could not be reached for comment this week.
TransLink officials say they have no plans to pursue eastward boundary expansion, even in the new 10-year plan that will be brought forward for approval this summer.
"We've pretty much got our hands full with the local municipalities," said spokesperson Judy Rudin, referring to the unfolding debate over the need for more revenue, without which Metro transit service is poised to contract rather than expand.
But SFU professor and transportation policy expert Anthony Perl predicts the issue of widening TransLink's reach will have to come back on the table.
"We need transportation solutions that go all the way to Abbotsford at least if we're going to deal with environmental sustainability," he said.
"Sooner or later the necessity to deal with the Lower Mainland as a whole will raise those kinds of issues."
Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender also thinks the days of the Fraser Valley being underserved by transit – and relatively untaxed for it – are numbered.
"Those communities are going to have to look at being part of the transit strategy," he said. "Abbotsford is one of the key hubs. I don't think they can stay removed forever. It's going to have to happen at some point."
If Valley cities don't sign on voluntarily, he said, Victoria may have to mandate it.
Fassbender said he suspects only "a few" if any residents of Surrey or Langley would move to Abbotsford to avoid a new vehicle levy for TransLink, but said the key issue is the need for better service to the Valley.
Ex-premier Mike Harcourt, who has helped unite high-growth communities, last month said Abbotsford council should seriously consider joining TransLink.
The transportation ministry is currently conducting a strategic review of transit needs for the Fraser Valley, in partnership with TransLink and the Fraser Valley Regional District.
Consultants are expected to report back late this year with a detailed vision of how transit should be improved in the valley over the next two decades.
The study does not presume the Fraser Valley would join TransLink, but consultants are expected to consider that as one of the possible scenarios to fund the proposed Valley improvements.
PLANNED TRANSLINK REVENUE SOURCES
New proposals
• Vehicle levy. No number set yet, but $100 per car would generate $140 million.
• Container tax. Rate undetermined.
Going up
• Property taxes. TransLink collects $264 million per year by charging $37 per $100,000 assessed value on Metro homes. Can rise by three per cent a year without special approval.
• Fuel tax. TransLink gets 12 cents per litre of gas and diesel sold within Metro Vancouver. Worth $268 million per year. Province has empowered TransLink to raise fuel tax another three cents per litre, or $66 million.
• Transit fares. Riders pay $354 million a year. Can rise two per cent a year without special approval by mayors. TransLink could also reduce the discount on prepaid tickets and passes.
• Sales tax on paid parking lots. Existing seven per cent sales tax is worth $14 million. Could be increased to 21 per cent, generating another $30 million. Biggest impact on City of Vancouver.
Proposed transfer
• Share of existing Property Transfer Tax, collected by province. Opposed by Victoria, but a half share of the PTT from the Lower Mainland would likely be worth at least $150 million a year.
Unchanged
• BC Hydro levy. $1.90 per month per household.
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/27287619.html
Abbotsford received a low grade for sustainable transportation, but is getting better according to Coun. Lynne Harris of the transit committee.
Transit report gives Abby low grade
Abbotsford has had its second transit D day, but one city councillor is confident that improvements are coming.
For the second consecutive year, the Abbotsford Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) – which includes Mission – has received a D grade in a national survey of sustainable urban transportation conducted by the Appleton Foundation.
Coun. Lynne Harris, the vice-chair of the Mission/Abbotsford Transit Committee, said she expects a higher grade in 2009.
Abbotsford finished 14th of the 27 CMAs in the survey. It ranked the lowest in B.C., behind Victoria (first), Vancouver (second) and Kelowna (10th).
“I would hope we would see significant [transit] improvements this fall that will boost our ranking for the next assessment period,” said Harris.
“Definitely, I would expect to see an improvement and we will have additional improvements in 2009.”
This year, Harris said Abbotsford has introduced its transit frequency on key routes from 30 to 15 minutes, and has a dozen more buses on the roads.
Next year, there are plans to build two new transit exchanges in downtown Abbotsford and in Clearbrook.
“We are certainly working hard to improve transit and transportation . . . we are really trying to be focused on this and I think the community is supportive,” she said, adding that ridership numbers in Abbotsford are amongst the fastest growing in B.C.
“There’s lots of room to improve but I think we are doing pretty good.”
According to the report, the Abbotsford area has the highest per capita carbon emissions from retail fuel sales, despite an 11 per cent reduction over one year.
Abbotsford is credited with seeking to prevent sprawl through an Official Community Plan that aims to densify downtown and concentrate new residential and business growth in existing areas.
Despite receiving a D grade, the Appleton Foundation described Abbotsford as “respectable” compared to other Canadian centres.
According to foundation spokesman Barry Appleton, the rankings aim to give residents a yardstick to compare local progress in the fight on climate change.
“Citizens win when cities compete to adopt best practices,” he said. “It is hard for cities to know how they are performing if they do not know how they compare with others.”
- With files from Jeff Nagel
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/34773569.html
Abbotsford set to embrace light rail
An Abbotsford committee believes the city will accept its recommendation today for a light-rail demonstration line for the 2010 Olympics.
"New light-rail vehicles would be showcased. Most people have old-fashioned ideas about rail -- they don't realize how good it really is," said John Buker of Abbotsford's Inter-Regional Transportation Committee. "It would be just for the Olympics," added Buker, who will be present for the committee's presentation to council this afternoon.
He believes a local demonstration project within Abbotsford could be done for less than $1 million. The cost would be $5 million if track upgrades were done and the route extended from Abbotsford to Chilliwack or from Chilliwack to Surrey.
The line would be in conjunction with a 2010 light-rail demonstration project that has already been approved by Vancouver City Council. That $8-million project will use modern streetcars and run from Granville Island to Cambie Street and West Second Avenue.
The Abbotsford committee also recommends rail corridors should be preserved along McCallum Road, South Fraser Way and Clearbrook Road.
"This plan is achievable in incremental stages," said committee chair Coun. Lynne Harris in a report to council. "Embracing the concept is absolutely essential" and light rail is "considerably cheaper" than SkyTrain.
© The Vancouver Province 2008
Chinook Helicopters building hangar, office complex at Abbotsford Airport
The Abbotsford Airport Authority has welcomed the news that Chinook Helicopters is planning to build a new 15,000-square-foot facility.
The company, which began training operations at the Abbotsford airport in 1982, will construct the new hangar and office complex on the northwest corner of the airport.
Airport authority chairman Dave Kandal said he was “really excited” to see the plans move forward.
“This development is the result of almost a year of discussions and we’re very pleased to be able to support the expansion of a long-time tenant like Chinook,” he said.
Chinook president Cathy Press said the company’s 15 employees and eight training helicopters had outgrown the facilities they had occupied for the past 26 years.
“We’re pleased to be able to stay in Abbotsford and develop this new facility to accommodate our growing operation,” she said.
Press said the company plans to increase its turbine fleet and will continue to provide “basic and advanced flight training and flight testing” from the new hangar.
“Abbotsford is the best-known location in Canada for professional helicopter training,” she continued. “The close proximity of the coast and north Cascade mountain ranges makes it an ideal training ground.”
According to Kandal, the Chinook announcement conforms to the airport’s long-term master plan.
“This area was identified as a helicopter corridor and will open up more land for industrial aerospace development,” he added.
Construction of the new facility will start in 2009, with completion expected by the summer of 2009.
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/Chinook_Helicopters_building_hangar_office_complex_at_Abbotsford_Airport__.html
$250,000 to expand city’s cycling lanes
Cyclists in Abbotsford will benefit from new cycling trails thanks to a $250,000 grant from the provincial government.
“We are expanding the cycling options for residents in Abbotsford which will encourage people to rethink the way they travel and commute,” said Abbotsford-Clayburn MLA John van Dongen. “This latest investment will improve the overall safety of our cities cycling network and also build upon the existing network allowing for more riders to use them.”
The details of the project include shoulder widening to accommodate 1.5 m wide bicycle lanes along Downes Road, 1.2 m wide bicycle lanes along Seldon Road and Clayburn Road west of Highway 11, and shared bicycle and road lanes along Clayburn Road east of Highway 11.
These projects will provide a cycling link between existing bike routes, offer more separation between cyclists and vehicular traffic and create a transportation route which will be more appealing to both cyclists and motorists. Six schools along this route will benefit from a safer bicycle route to school, says a B.C. government press release.
Bike BC funding builds on the $114 million in cycling investments the province has made since 2001.
The program builds cycling corridors of regional and provincial significance.
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/31336309.html
Province funds conversion into Olympic Live Site
Focus for Abby’s Olympic celebrations
The City of Abbotsford is planning to create a hub for local 2010 Olympic celebrations, thanks to a $330,000 cheque from the provincial government.
Abbotsford-Clayburn MLA John van Dongen handed the cheque over to mayor George Ferguson on Saturday, during the official opening of Abbotsford’s community centre. The contribution to the city’s coffers was made under Victoria’s Olympic Live Site program.
The community centre, a $24 million expansion to the Abbotsford Recreation Centre, was officially unveiled on the weekend during a ceremony in front of thousands.
The live site money was initially pledged by the B.C. government in 2006, but was only officially handed over during the opening of the ARC expansion on Saturday. Abbotsford’s $330,000 is the maximum available under the program.
Mark Taylor, the director of the city’s parks, recreation and culture department, said the money will be used to create an Olympic Live Site in Abbotsford during the Games.
That will allow the public to take part in an array of Olympic-related activities locally, and watch the events live at ARC, he said.
“It will help create an Abbotsford Olympic village and be our contribution to the Olympics, and we hope the community will participate,” said Taylor. “We are trying to . . . generate Olympic excitement.”
The Live Site program was created by the provincial government to help local governments and non-profit groups participate in the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.
According to the province, funding was made available to assist with special community projects “that ensured the benefits of hosting the Games were shared throughout British Columbia.” Projects must have “broad public appeal and be widely accessible to the community.”
In Abbotsford, the $330,000 Live Sites cheque will be used for the following:
- Converting the arena into a live sites theatre/entertainment venue.
- Constructing an elevated walking/training track around the perimeter of the arena.
- Transforming the children’s ice sheet into a mini-Olympic Games “winter fest.”
- Converting the mezzanine area into an arts and cultural gallery.
- Installing an overhead display system in the pool.
- Buying four 20-by-20-foot tents for outdoor activities.
- Buying staging and sound equipment, and lighting.
- Buying a full-colour LED message sign.
- Buying bleachers.
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/33417324.html
