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Parks planned for two Langley school sites

Township staff want to start planting turf soon to prepare for the future
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The Donna Gabriel Robins Elementary school will open September 2021 at 7844 204B St. (Joanne Abshire/Langley School District)

Langley Township staff are hoping to start work soon on two new parks that will be adjacent to elementary schools in the Willoughby area.

At Monday’s meeting, Township council voted in favour of pre-approving a few time-sensitive budget items for the coming year.

The items include the replacement of some worn-out dump trucks and extra money for a viewing platform on the Fraser River, but the most expensive budget items or for the two parks.

The two parks are located at future school sites.

The South West Yorkson Neighbourhood Park, which is to be adjacent to Donna Gabriel Robins Elementary at 7844 204B Street, needs $1.3 million in funding, and the North East Latimer Neighbourhood Park, which is to be adjacent to an unnamed school near 82nd Avenue east of 201st Street, needs $1.35 million, according to a staff report.

The parks are part of a program that has seen the Township build “joint access” parks at new elementary schools over the past several years. This gives students a bigger grassy play area while adding a neighbourhood park for the surrounding community.

“Both neighbourhood park plans include two sand turf playing fields, which require one year of growing time before they can be utilized, resulting in an immediate need to begin site preparation,” the report says.

READ MORE: Langley recognizes Kwantlen First Nation educator with school naming

Donna Gabriel Robins Elementary is set to open this fall.

The district has not yet announced an opening date for the other school site, but when the land purchase was finalized in 2019, it was estimated that it would be opened sometime between 2023, and 2025.

Some land for the school was set aside as early as 2017, when Vesta Properties began planning for a sizable development in the area, mostly of townhouses and single-family homes.

READ MORE: Land set aside in Latimer development proposal for new elementary school



Matthew Claxton

About the Author: Matthew Claxton

Raised in Langley, as a journalist today I focus on local politics, crime and homelessness.
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