25 years ago

Editor: Jim Larsen

Islanders sing in opposition to oil pipeline proposal

“With Vern Olsen of Greenbank playing the accordion, islanders sang his pipeline-protest song to the tune of the Canadian national anthem for Trans Mountain pipeline officials Thursday at Oak Harbor High School.

The crowd of about 80 applauded and nearly all joined in an encore. Only a handful of Trans Mountain officials were at the meeting.

Bill Reed, Trans Mountain vice president in charge of the Low Point Project, as the pipeline and oil port proposal is called, tried to assure their concerns about possible groundwater contamination are for naught.

He was speaking informally to people three or four at a time, those who sought him out at a table in Parker Hall.

There was no detailed explanation of the pipeline proposal given at the public meeting Thursday, because the crowd was told to break into three groups, to ask questions of ENSR engineering consultants and register their concerns.”

15 years ago

Editor: Matt Johnson

Langley OKs house size limit

“There is now an official limit on how much a person can build in Langley.

Two weeks after removing an absolute floor size cap from an ordinance amendment designed to keep future residential structures “in scale” with the rest of the city, the Langley City Council gave residential floor area limits unanimous approval last Wednesday.

The ordinance will allow single-family homes and duplexes to occupy only a certain percentage of the lots on which they are built. Prior to the council’s Nov. 21 meeting, the ordinance contained language that would have limited the maximum size of a house to 5,000 square feet of finished, above-ground living area. City staff removed the limit after they determined the city might be setting an indefensible legal precedent.”