Langley City council, April 13: a crisis response car, slow streets and a letter on long-term care beds
Langley City council asked staff to budget a one-year mental health crisis car pilot, put slow streets into the 2027 budget talks and demanded answers on 300 promised care beds.
- Meeting
- Regular Council Meeting, Monday, April 13, 2026, Langley City Hall
- Official record
- Minutes (PDF) · Agenda and reports
Three councillor motions took up most of the evening, and all three passed.
A crisis response car, for one year
Councillor Wallace’s motion carried. It directs staff to work with the Langley RCMP on a budget for a one-year Mobile Integrated Crisis Response pilot: one RCMP officer, one specially equipped cruiser and one psychiatric nurse. Staff will also write evaluation criteria for council to endorse, and talk to the Township about optionally sharing the cost. A report on the results is due within six months of the pilot ending.
The idea is that calls involving a mental health crisis get a nurse on scene, not just a police officer. Surrey and other cities have run similar car programs. It was also one of the recommendations of the City’s Citizens’ Assembly on community safety, which council endorsed in February. What this motion doesn’t do is fund the pilot: it asks for a budget, which council will have to approve.
Slow streets
Councillor White’s motion from last October, held until Transportation 2050 was adopted, asked staff for a report on lowering speed limits on local streets from 50 to 30 km/h. Its preamble cites shorter stopping distances and more than 60 BC municipalities adopting or considering 30 km/h.
Council amended it instead to have staff put a capital item in the 2027 budget, for council to consider, to build a slow streets program as recommended in Transportation 2050. A councillor argued on a point of order that this changed the motion’s intent. The chair ruled it a valid amendment.
The amendment carried with Councillor Mack opposed, and the amended motion carried with Councillors Mack and Solyom opposed. The difference matters: instead of studying a blanket speed limit change, the City is now looking at a funded program of street changes. Those are things like signs, traffic calming and design. Whether the limit itself drops on local streets is still undecided.
Where are the 300 care beds?
Councillor White’s motion carried for the mayor to write to the Minister of Health asking for a written public answer within 30 days. The questions: the status of the Province’s September 2024 promise of 300 new long-term care beds at Langley Memorial Hospital, whether a business plan has been approved, and a timeline with construction and opening dates. Copies go to the ministers of Finance and Infrastructure and Langley-Willowbrook MLA Jody Bal-Toor.
The motion noted the project’s estimated $240 million to $450 million cost and a planned opening by 2030. It also cited the cost of patients waiting in hospital beds for care placement, about $1,200 a day against $294 for a care bed. Health care is a provincial responsibility, so a letter is about as far as a city can go.
Bylaws
- Adopted: Development Application Procedures Bylaw 3335 (Councillor Mack opposed) and Fees amendment 3337.
- Three readings: a Community Standards Bylaw amendment (3338) and the Affordable Housing Reserve Fund Bylaw (3320), both adopted April 27.
Also
- Council approved applying for a $29,800 Community Emergency Preparedness Fund grant for equipment, supplies and training for the Emergency Operations Centre.
- Metro 2050 amendment requests from Maple Ridge (industrial land on North 256 Street) and Surrey (Hazelmere) were referred to staff. Councillor Mack opposed the Hazelmere referral.
More background: City vs Township: who does what · Langley emergency contacts