Be part of the growing Strong Towns movement in Langley, British Columbia, Canada 🍁 !
Strong Towns Langley Clean Up Langley Day Team 2024
Welcome to Strong Towns Langley! We are a Strong Towns Local Conversation group made up of local residents who want to make Langley a better place.
Advocating for Incremental Development: We champion the practice of incremental development, which emphasizes small-scale, gradual changes, such as extensions, mixed-use, and garden suites and coach houses. By encouraging small, manageable projects, we empower local developers and community members to participate actively in the evolution of their neighbourhoods.
Solutions to Transportation: We advocate for a balanced approach to transportation in our community, and want to see alternatives to using cars to get around. The goal is to have more walkable, livable urban spaces, and an evidence-proven path towards reducing traffic.
Housing Accessibility: We advocate for improving housing affordability and increasing housing supply, we also work to find solutions that enhance our community.
Infrastructure, Taxation, and Growth: We strive for equitable and sustainable approaches to taxation and infrastructure development. We explore how responsible growth strategies can support the fiscal health of Langley, reduce liabilities, and enhance community well-being without over-reliance on expansion.
Environmental and Agricultural Challenges: We prioritize protecting natural habitats and local agriculture. By containing urban sprawl and encouraging efficient land use, we support environmental stewardship that enhances the overall quality of life in Langley.
We want to hear from you and grow the movement locally, so that means we want you to join our conversation!
join a meeting
Our monthly online meetings are held on the last Friday of every month and our open the public, you can join with any web browser or the jitsi meet app. Check out the meeting calendar for more options on how to connect.
We welcome everyone who has an interest in these issues to come to our meetings and events, even if you have limited time for advocacy, we still want to hear from you and hear your thoughts and concerns in the community.
Online Public Meeting - May 31, 2024, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Discussing news, future campaigns, ideas and feedback.
Add to Google Calendar Add to Other Calendarjoin our online discussion groups
Outside of monthly meetings we chat about news, ideas and more on our discussion groups. We recommend joining our new Discord server, but we also have a legacy Slack channel. Messages are relayed between.
join our mailing list
Provide your name and email below to join our mailing list to receive news and be notified about upcoming meetings.
what is strong towns?
Strong Towns is a non-profit organization which began in Brainerd, Minnesota in the United States, founded by Charles Marohn. Strong Towns pushes back against the the weaknesses, problems and costs of the suburban “top-down” development model.
| Suburban Model | Strong Towns Model |
|---|---|
| Exact land use determined by municipality | Organic collaborative land use patterns |
| Build and plan to an exact finished state | Guide, don’t specify every detail |
| Use heavy handed bylaws and regulations | Place trust in people and the market |
| Future density change is difficult | Incremental density change is supported |
| Overbuild roads and prioritize personal vehicles | Build for people, moderate road capacity and accomodate all modes of transportation |
| Plan for a final population count | Adapt to an ongoing increasing population |
We believe that a “Strong Town” is a place where residents have a voice in shaping their community. Residents are free to make small bets on their town, such as starting a local business or being allowed to adapt their property to a different use or denser form incrementally over time.
In the past, this manifested in more traditional urban-style development practices that come from “bottom-up” city development like we see in older cities around the world. When we put people first, and allow residents to make incremental changes in and small bets on their communities, neighbourhoods organically become more people-oriented and the local economy becomes stronger.
By growing organically to meet the needs of the community, instead of being dependent on rapid suburban growth, the local governments of Strong Towns are typically more financially stable and resilient.
With this approach, land is used most effectively and efficiently for homes and wealth-creating businesses. Strong Towns also have fewer government regulations that get in the way of small businesses and incremental development, such as minimum parking requirements, large minimum lot sizes and lot setbacks.
We encourage you to read Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity to learn more.
campaigns
letter to langley advance times - "Langley’s housing crisis started a long time ago"
A local resident wrote a letter with concerns about high-rise towers in Langley - we responded to explain how incremental development could help us meet our housing needs instead.
View Letter - "Langley’s housing crisis started a long time ago"
brookswood neighbourhood plan feedback
Alternative people-oriented land use plan for Brookswood.
View Document
the growth ponzi scheme
Strong Towns Langley researched and produced a video on the history of the Growth Ponzi Scheme in Langley to shine a light on the policies that led to the challenges we face today.
88 avenue corridor slip lanes survey
Strong Towns Langley conducted a community survey on intersections with slip lanes along and near 88 Avenue from October 24th, 2023, to December 1st, 2023, to gather insights on safety and the impact of slip lanes on intersections.
View January 27th 2024 Letter Sent to Mayor and Council
View Part 2 / Conclusion Video
View Part 1 Video
View Results
View Summary
View Original Questions
200 street corridor feedback
Feedback and proposals for the Township of Langley’s 200 Street 2040 plan.
View Document
property tax revenue map
Interactive Value-per-Acre map: https://strongtownslangley.org/maps?revenue-map
Old non-interactive map from November 2022: View on Facebook Page
langley city or langley township?
Langley is divided into two municipalities each with their own municipal council, staff and services:
• The City of Langley, a 10.18 km2 area in the centre, and
• The Township of Langley, which is the area surrounding the City, with Surrey to the west, and Abbotsford to the east.
The City of Langley's small size limits it's ability to sprawl, and as such is already pushed towards financial sustainability and allowing natural densification to accommodate growth within city limits.
In contrast, the surrounding Township of Langley's higher abundance of land (although still limited) and other policies encourage less efficient land use such as oversized roads and parking lots, and the development of brand new neighbourhoods to bring in surges of revenue to prop up municipal finances and subsidize existing low-performing areas. While the good news is that new neighbourhoods are denser and have more variety of housing types, older neighbourhoods in the Township of Langley often fail to allow or encourage natural densification and investment in new housing and new businesses.
Due to this, our priority is encouraging Strong Towns practices and principles in the Township of Langley, rather than the City of Langley, although we will continue to support the City in it's efforts, including attending public hearings and giving feedback, and also welcome members who live in the City or have an interest in City matters.
We also wish to acknowledge that Langley is situated on the traditional lands of the Katzie, Kwantlen, Matsqui, and Semiahmoo First Nations peoples.
what do we do?
Meetings
We hold meetings to exchange ideas, strategize ways to promote financially resilient and sustainable development practices, advocate for supportive policies, and educate the community.
Online Content
We produce content to raise awareness about our group and Strong Towns, such as video essays and interviews with key members in our local community to discuss Strong Towns and urbanism topics such as co-housing and safer streets, all available on our YouTube Channel and Spotify Podcast.
Collaborate with Others
We collaborate with other community groups, such as our neighbours in Delta, BC at Del-POP and Strong Towns Vancouver, as well as housing advocates such as Abundant Housing Vancouver.
Policy Advocacy
We advocate for policies that promote financially resilient and sustainable development practices, attending open houses, public hearings and completing surveys to give our feedback.
Engage with Local Government
We aim to work with the mayor, councillors and municipal staff policymakers to influence planning and development decisions.