A Langley concrete plant has scrapped plans for an expansion on their Fraser Highway site in the face of opposition from neighbours, but still hopes to use a nearby property for its trucks.
Vancouver Ready Mix and Fraserway Prekast – both owned by the same company, BM Group – have occupied the site in the 22700 block of Fraser Highway for decades.
But a recent plan to expand the site, including onto land on the east side of 228 Street, stirred up locals, several of whom came to the Monday, July 7 council meeting to express their opposition.
“If this proposal is accepted, 228 Street will now be running through the centre of a cement plant that is considered heavy industry," said Chris Buss. "My initial concern was, that’s just not safe.”
Barry Levy, another neighbour, pointed to issues with runoff from the plant or its surrounding area.
He noted that in 2017, there was an incident that led to "a complete aquatic kill-off," in Hatchery Creek, north of the site. The area to the north is also the site of the Nicomekl Enhancement Society's volunteer-run hatchery.
“The hatchery hauled out buckets and buckets of everything that swims, wriggles, and crawls," Levy said, including crayfish, frogs, and coho salmon.
Kelly Hasegawa, likeBuss, brought up the question of large trucks repeatedly crossing 228 Street near several schools to the north, where Langley Christian's high school, elementary, and planned middle school are all located.
Hasegawa and Buss brought up the safety of kids walking to school in the area, and Hasegawa also mentioned the impact of noise on the nearby townhomes where many of the neighbours live.
“Noise pollution is not just an inconvenience. It is a public health issue," she said.
However, there will be no expansion of the plant itself, said Peter Fassbender. The former Langley City mayor and local MLA is now the corporate ambassador for the BM Group, which owns both firms operating on the site.
Fassbender didn't deny issues in the past, but said the BM Group bought Vancouver Ready Mix and Fraserway Prekast about five years ago.
“I make no hesitation in saying to you that the operations prior to the BM Group taking it over was not up to the standard it should have been," Fassbender said.
He argued that the new ownership is complying with environmental regulations and works with Langley Township bylaw officers when problems have come up in the last few years.
After engaging with the neighbours, the company has dropped plans to add major new equipment to the plant, Fassbender said. The owners now plan to add a new filter press, which captures solids from waste runoff.
They also do intend to use the site to the east of 228 Street, for marshalling trucks. When the plant is busy, cement trucks would come onto 228 Street from Fraser Highway, turn into the east side property, and drive north until they cross over 228 Street back to the plant on the west side.
The neighbours had objected to this, pointing to the number of trucks that will be crossing sidewalks on either side of the road, just south of the area with the schools.
Fassbender said there would be traffic control people on site.
The owners are looking for a new site for an expanded version of the plant, but industrial land is hard to find in Metro Vancouver, Fassbender noted.
“If they do [find a new site], they will move," he said, but there was no guarantee that would happen in the near future.
Fassbender took a number of questions from the council members, including about the impact of truck traffic, as well as concerned about the health of fish downstream from the plant.
