LangleyAdvance
Puppy love pg A12
Your community newspaper since 1931
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Your source for local sports, news, weather, and entertainment: www.langleyadvance.com
Audited circulation: 41,100 – 24 pages
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Arson shuts down theatre
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Earl Mufford, foreground, with sons Nicholas, 19, and Harrison, 11, farms about 600 acres in the Milner area and agrees with the Agricultural Land Commission’s decision. Earl’s two sons hope to follow in their dad’s footsteps and continue Mufford Hay Farms for many more years.
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Overpass blocked by ALC
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The ALC has turned down plans – at least for now – to pave a road and overpass through Milner farmland. by Matthew Claxton and Troy Landreville mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
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The value of farmland outweighs the value of an overpass, the Agricultural Land Commission has decided. A controversial plan for a road and overpass in the Milner area would be too damaging to local agriculture, according to a letter sent to Langley Township by the ALC. A letter from Richard Bullock, chair of the ALC, says: “…the commission found that the proposal, in its entirety, would negatively impact the agricultural capability and sustainability of lands within the Agricultural Land Reserve.” However, the decision does not rule out any overpass. It notes that most, but not all of the ALC’s conditions for allowing the plan were met. The letter also acknowledged that the ALC is willing to work with the governments and corporations involved to resolve the overpass issue. Revised proposals would likely be processed faster now that the ALC has a great deal of information on the issues at stake, the
letter said. Of the four ALC commissioners for this area, two voted to refuse the application, while two voted against the motion. Under ALC regulations, tie votes result in applications being turned down, according to the documents released Friday. The land commission said in a statement it would work with the overpass proponents on a new plan that would meet its requirements. The decision pleased opponents of the controversial plan. For the past 25 years, Earl Mufford has farmed about 600 acres in the Milner area for hay and forage crops. Part of that land is a 90-acre plot immediately north of Mufford Crescent. Mufford, whose family settled in Langley in 1885, agrees with the ALC’s decision, saying it will help save a section of those 90 acres from being, he said, “severed” by road expansion. Mufford said a potential overpass in the area should connect onto existing roadways, such as Glover Road, and believes Glover and existing routes need to be upgraded to accommodate more traffic.
“They seem to plan overpasses away from existing highways,” Mufford said. “The overpasses should be either on, or connected, to existing highways.” Township Mayor Rick Green said he will be working to pull together all the funding partners to start talking about a new design. The partners include the Township, the province, the federal government, the railway firms, and TransLink. “This really doesn’t have to be that difficult a process,” Green said. Councillor Charlie Fox, one of the majority on “This Township really council who voted for doesn’t the project, have to said the be that Township will bear difficult.” the costs of Rick Green redesigning the overpass. This is because it doesn’t get money from other governments and partners until the project starts. The overpass was planned to connect 64th Avenue between 204th and 216th Streets, over rail lines and Highway 10. Proponents said it would get traffic around frequent trains. Many farmers objected to losing 29 acres of agricultural land in what was the Hudson’s Bay Company Farm, more than a century ago.
A fire that has caused extensive damage to the Chief Sepass Theatre is believed to have been deliberately set. by Heather Colpitts hcolpitts@langleyadvance.com
Principal Jon Bonnar hadn’t planned to assemble the more than 900 students attending Langley Fine Arts school on Monday. But he and the staff were forced to break the news to the students that due to vandals setting a fire in the Chief Sepass Theatre Saturday evening, their studies were not going to be the same for the foreseeable future. “We’re going to be without the theatre, classroom and performance space for approximately two months,” Bonnar told the Langley Advance. The fire was set at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday. Investigators believe they’ve found the point of entry to the building, said Cpl. Holly Marks, spokesperson for the Langley RCMP. Fortunately, the fire did not spread to the rest of the school. “It was contained in there,” Marks said. The 310-seat theatre built in the 1990s will be out of use for several months and sustained at least $200,000 damage. Bonnar said that estimate is simply a starting point and he expects the amount to go higher. He noted that while the fire was small, there is extensive smoke and water damage. Each stage spotlight, for instance, will have to be scrubbed and that costs about $100 per light and the school has about 100 spotlights, alone. Staff have also been scrambling to contact the community groups and others who rent the space. “It’s not only our performance space. It’s used by the community,” he noted.
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