Abbotsford farmers could soon face more restrictions and regulations regarding the construction of residential dwellings on farm properties.
A report given to Abbotsford city council by Grant Acheson, director of development services, last week introduced the idea to add a residential "home plate" method to the existing Abbotsford zoning bylaws.
A mixed-use development at Simon Fraser University is on hold due to cash concerns.
In November, city councillors gave initial approval to plans for 102 residential units, retail and office space and a child-care centre for 50 children at SFU`s UniverCity.
The city is planning a new park in northeast Coquitlam.
At Monday`s committee of the whole meeting, councillors received a staff report and application for an amendment to the citywide official community plan.
The City approved rezoning so the Gateway of Hope shelter for the homeless can be built, but the controversy continues because of its proximity to water courses.
Some on council expressed anger over misinformation being circulated in the community, that the project violates the Official Community Plan for the area.
The controversy was sparked by a letter submitted to media by resident Laura Addinall.
The letter was not published in the Langley Advance.
Greater Vancouver property sales in March declined for the second month in a row, falling 16 per cent while inventories of unsold homes continued to build, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported.
Realtors saw 2,997 sales through the Multiple Listing Service in March, compared with 3,582 in March, 2007.
A citizens` group representing 4,000 Quayside residents wants train operations in New Westminster limited to times between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., taking a cue from how plane traffic is handled at Vancouver International Airport.
And that request may garner even more supporters as residents throughout the city are getting tired of been jolted awake in the middle of the night by the loud train whistles.
OLYMPIC visitors could be piling into floating hotels on the City of North Vancouver`s waterfront in 2010 if a proposal by the municipality goes ahead as envisioned.
The idea, outlined in a call for expressions of interest posted on the city`s website this week, could see cruise ships filled with out-of-towners anchored at the Burrard Dry Dock Pier east of Lonsdale Quay for the duration of the two-week event.
OVER the past five years, North Shore commuters have gradually been giving up their cars in favour of the bus, but they have a long way to go before the community can be considered transit-oriented.
That`s the picture painted by a report on transportation modes released this week by Statistics Canada.
Port authority eyes river barges to ease container congestion
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is looking at an alternate way of moving containers to and from its ports.
Captain Allen Domaas, chief sustainability officer with the port authority, said the VFPA is hoping to start moving goods by water through an intra-port short-sea shipping network.
Alpha Aviation announced this week the launch of a new executive airline operating out of Boundary Bay Airport.
Alpha Executive Air was created to offer a more convenient alternative to local business travellers who are tired of battling Vancouver-bound traffic or time-consuming ferry trips.
They know the new power lines are coming, but they still don`t have any answers when it comes to an offer to buy their homes.
That`s the concern of Tsawwassen residents living on the right-of-way where the provincial government recently announced that overhead power lines will be constructed as originally planned.
"We got a letter saying if the residents are interested they have to approach the government, the government will not be approaching them. They again put it all on us and nobody really wants to leave their homes," said Cec Dunn, co-chair of Tsawwassen Residents Against Higher Voltage Overhead Lines (TRAHVOL).
Sixteen new townhomes will be allowed near heritage estates in Shaughnessy after city council approved a zoning change April 1.
In exchange for preserving Nichol House, Brian Bell of Bell Holdings can now apply for a development permit to construct 11 townhouses near Granville and 16th and five larger townhouses higher on the property closer to Nichol House. Three properties will be re-subdivided into two.
A new survey ranks Penticton as the most competitive place to do business in the Pacific Northwest.
Penticton occupies this spot in KPMG`s Competitive Alternatives Study: KPMG` s Guide to International Business Location 2008. The study is a guide to comparing business locations in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific Region and measures the combined impact of 27 significant cost components that are most likely to vary by location.
The Comox Valley Regional District`s drinking water supply will be improved thanks to more than $2.6 million from the federal and provincial governments.
The $2,666,666 in federal/provincial funding will go towards twinning the East Courtenay reservoir to double the region`s available water supply.
Construction of the Golden Ears Bridge has reached the halfway point.
The Fraser Valley`s largest infrastructure project in 20 years, the toll bridge will connect Langley to Maple Ridge via 14 kilometres of new roadway, including a 1.25-km bridge over the Fraser River.
B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said the bridge will enable the area`s infrastructure to "catch up" with its growth.
Housing costs haven`t driven out Commercial Drive`s problems
House prices in Vancouver`s Commercial Drive area have tripled in the past decade, drawing yuppies to the now-million-dollar homes, yet some of the grittier problems in the city`s vibrant urban village remain.
Homeless people sleep in alcoves. Crack dealers deal openly on street corners. On the periphery of the area, prostitutes still seek customers.
It has taken over three years, but a growing string of transactions suggests that China, in its quest to buy mining resources anywhere and everywhere, is back in town.
In late 2004, when a political firestorm sabotaged a $5-billion bid by China`s state-owned Minmetals Corp. to buy Noranda, one of Canada`s oldest mining companies, the Chinese took their money elsewhere -- first to Chile and then a myriad of other destinations.
The Prince George Airport`s runway expansion project now has a contractor to do the next phase of the construction.
Anyone who has been to YXS recently could not help but notice the major clearing and land preparation going on especially at the Johnson Road end of the airport`s property where a much longer flight path is in the preliminary stages.
