Brookswood-Fernridge Neighbourhood Plans

Early this year, the plan preparation process for the Brookswood-Fernridge neighbourhood plans entered its final step – Phase 3. As a first step, the draft neighbourhood plans (NPs) for the Booth, Fernridge and Rinn neighbourhoods in Brookswood-Fernridge were release for comments and feedback, on February 10, 2022. Links to these draft NPs (February 2022 version) are available as follows:

• Draft BOOTH neighbourhood plan
• Draft FERNRIDGE neighbourhood plan
• Draft RINN neighbourhood plan

The release of these draft NPs represented the culmination of a process that included successive plan-building steps, intensive technical and policy analyses, and extensive public engagement. The discussions and findings of the process were consolidated into the three draft NPs, providing a ‘blueprint’ for thoughtful development over the coming decades.

NPs context and highlights

The draft NPs align with the vision and guiding principles in the Brookswood-Fernridge community plan (BFCP) that was adopted by Council in 2017. When adopted, the neighbourhood character goals and policies in each of the NPs would guide decision-making related to growth and change in these neighbourhoods.

Realizing the vision and following the guiding principles of the BFCP have resulted in the draft NPs having much in common. In preparing the draft NPs, it became clear that what was “sound” policy for one was true for all three. What has emerged for the neighbourhoods are policies that focus on the fundamentals of the BFCP, with more specifics, including:

• robust environmental policies that focus on protecting and restoring creeks, streams and other surface waterbodies, and the establishment of nature conservation areas and other environmental features for the purposes of tree preservation, restoration and enhancement, as well as environment health and biodiversity on both public and private lands
• mixed-use, commercial activity nodes that contribute to a small-town character, complement existing commercial areas and provide retail shops and offices for the day-to-day needs of the local residents
• residential areas close to the commercial nodes with a mix of housing forms, such as rowhouses, townhouses and low-rise apartments adjacent to the nodes, followed by single family, duplex, triplex, fourplex and pocket neighbourhoods, all with the purpose of supporting walkability and liveability in each of the neighbourhoods

Where we are in the process

On July 11, 2022, Council received a report on the draft Booth, Fernridge and Rinn neighbourhood plans. The purpose of the report was to present the results of the Phase 3 public engagement, that took place from February 10 to June 13, 2022, and to discuss proposed revisions to the draft NPs.

This Council report is available at the following link:

July 11, 2022, Council report Brookswood-Fernridge neighbourhood plans – phase 3 summary

One of the outcomes of Council’s deliberation of this report was their direction to forego the presentation of the proposed NPs for initial bylaw readings until after the general local elections in October 2022.

Thank you for joining the final phase of public engagement

With the adoption of the new Brookswood-Fernridge community plan in October 2017, work has been on-going to prepare for the neighbourhood panning processes for the Booth, Fernridge, and Rinn neighbourhoods in the south and east portions of the community. See map to the right for proposed neighbourhood plan boundaries.  

General neighbourhood planning updates and frequently asked questions will be available and updated regularly throughout the process on this page. 

As the planning process proceeds, information, updates, and frequently asked questions specific to each neighbourhood will be available below. To receive updates on the neighbourhood Planning process for all three neighbourhoods, please sign up for email notifications at eNews.

Booth, Fernridge, and Rinn neighbourhood plans are ready for review

Draft neighbourhood plans (NPs) for the Booth, Fernridge and Rinn neighbourhoods in Brookswood-Fernridge are being released for comment before going to Council for bylaw consideration. Details of public engagement activities can be found below.

The three draft NPs are available at the following links:

Draft BOOTH neighbourhood plan

Draft FERNRIDGE neighbourhood plan

Draft RINN neighbourhood plan

Their release represents the culmination of a process that included successive plan-building steps, intensive technical and policy analyses, and extensive public engagement. The discussions and findings of the process were consolidated into the three draft NPs, providing a “blueprint” for thoughtful development over the coming decades.

Context and highlights

The draft NPs align with the Vision and Guiding Principles in the Brookswood-Fernridge community plan (BFCP) that was adopted by Council in 2017. When adopted, the neighbourhood character goals and policies in each of the NPs would guide decision-making related to growth and change in these neighbourhoods.

Realizing the vision and following the guiding principles have resulted in the draft NPs having much in common. In preparing the draft NPs, it became clear that what was “sound” policy for one was true for all three.  More specifically, what has emerged for the neighbourhoods are policies that focus on the fundamentals of the BFCP, yet with more specificity, including:

• robust environmental policies that focus on protecting and restoring creeks, streams and other surface waterbodies, and the establishment of nature conservation areas and other environmental features for the purposes of tree preservation, restoration and enhancement, as well as environment health and biodiversity on both public and private lands
• mixed-use, commercial nodes that contribute to a small-town character, complement existing commercial areas and provide retail shops and offices for the day-to-day needs of the local residents
• residential areas close to the commercial nodes with a mix of housing forms, such as rowhouses, townhouses and low-rise apartments adjacent to the nodes, followed by single family, duplex, triplex, fourplex and pocket neighbourhoods, all with the purpose of support walkability and liveability in each of the neighbourhoods

Final phase of public engagement

Choose from three ways to participate:

Virtual open house and survey

The virtual open house and survey is now closed. Thank you for providing your feedback. The open house was open from February 22 until Noon on March 21, 2022. View the virtual open house information panels.

Talk with a planner

Dates: February 23 to March 18, 2022

Talk with a planner sessions are now closed. Thank you for connecting with us. If you have questions about the draft neighbourhood pans, please contact project staff at bfnp@tol.ca 

Presentation and QandA session

Date and Time: Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 7:00pm

Thank you for attending this 90-minute webinar. If you missed it, you can view a recording of the presentation and QandA session to learn more about the draft neighbourhood plans.

Booth, Fernridge and Rinn neighbourhood plans in the Brookswood-Fernridge community

Help shape distinctive new neighbourhoods in Brookswood-Fernridge

Thank you for providing your feedback as part of the planning process, and helping shape the future of Booth, Fernridge and Rinn neighbourhoods in Brookswood-Fernridge by participating in virtual open house and “speak to a planner” sessions.

The Township of Langley is continuing the public engagement process to help prepare three neighbourhood plans for Booth, Fernridge and Rinn (see map). In October 2017, Council adopted a new community plan for Brookswood-Fernridge, which provides a high-level outline of how the community will grow and change over the next 25+ years with general policy guidance for the location of commercial nodes, arterial roads and land uses by general categories.

These neighbourhood plans will focus on more detailed refinements of future land uses and densities, and street, block, and lot patterns. This planning process will also develop policies to guide design of buildings, streets, parks, active transportation, amenities, municipal infrastructure, and implementation.

Learn more in our FAQs below about how these neighbourhood plans will build on the Brookswood-Fernridge community plan while examining similar policies and themes at the neighbourhood level.

Virtual open house

Thank you for providing your feedback!

Date and time: Noon, June 14, 2021 to Noon, Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - virtual open house feedback has now closed. 

Virtual place: tol.ca/bfnp – this webpage. 

This second open house for the neighbourhood planning processes engaged the public online.

The virtual open house included a variety of policy themes and plan ideas, including neighbourhood character goals, environment (including trees), housing, commercial activity nodes, street and block patterns, rainwater and groundwater management.

Please use these links to information panels to learn more:
 

• Welcome
• Neighbourhood character goals
• Land use map
• Neighbourhood forestry panels
• Housing ideas - single family and duplex
• Housing ideas - single family/triplex/fourplex
• Housing ideas - pocket neighbourhood
• Housing ideas - rowhomes and townhomes
• Commercial activity nodes
• Street and block patterns
• Rainwater/surface/groundwater
• Mobility and connectivity
• Next steps

Speak to a planner sessions

Have questions? Find answers from a community planner!

Dates: Speak to a planner sessions have now finished. 

If you still have questions for planning staff about Brookswood-Fernridge neighbourhood plans please send them by email to bfnp@tol.ca.

Learn more

Visit this webpage often – tol.ca/bfnp – and learn more about the neighbourhood planning process and have access to other background information

Get project updates and event announcements

Visit tol.ca/enews and subscribe for email updates.

As some of the public health orders have recently lessened, resulting in lifting of some of the restrictions, staff recommend proceeding with the next steps, incorporating some amendments to public engagement components of the process, with the goal of resuming the planning process, with the objective of utilization of virtual options, rather than face-to-face gatherings, where possible and as conditions permit.

Revised public engagement approach

A revised public engagement approach for the rest of the Brookswood-Fernridge neighbourhood planning process would follow a similar number of events, so as to maintain the same level of engagement outlined in the Council-adopted Project terms of reference. The content in terms of policy themes and topics would also remain the same. The primary departures for public engagement would be the delivery, namely the use of virtual options rather than face-to-face gatherings.  

For the combined neighbourhood planning team and sub-teams meetings, staff would distribute information and a pre-recorded presentation to the members. One week would be provided for members to raise any questions and seek clarification of staff, followed by a second week for members to prepare comments to be moderated and posted on the NPT webpage.

The Neighbourhood workshops would be replaced with a series of neighbourhood policy dialogues. A similar format that was applied to the combined NPT and NPST meetings would inform the neighbourhood policy dialogue series. However, the information and a pre-recorded presentation would be prepared for each neighbourhood. Lastly, the public open houses would take place virtually as well. Staff are exploring ideas such as “live streaming” or a “chat” function to provide a real-time experience.  

Interim summary engagement report

As a means to recap where we are and what we have accomplished thus far in the planning process for new neighbourhoods in Brookswood-Fernridge, please review the Phase 2 interim summary engagement report. This document provides an update on the activities conducted and input gathered to date for this stage of the process.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, as we all adapt to these changed realities. Stay tuned!

Further project updates and engagement opportunities, including upcoming Neighbourhood Planning Team meetings, will be posted here in the coming weeks and months.

Want updates directly to your email inbox? Go to tol.ca/enews and select the ‘Brookswood-Fernridge Planning’ category for important project updates.

Neighbourhood planning primer – The purpose of this primer is to inform the planning and design of new high-quality, livable and walkable neighbourhoods in the Brookswood-Fernridge community.  The primer outlines the policy framework and the many ‘building blocks’ that go into creating neighbourhoods, informed by best practice, that meet the goals of the vision and guiding principles of the Brookswood-Fernridge community plan.

Commercial market demand study – The purpose of this study is to forecast the necessary and required space for retail, service commercial (e.g., restaurants, banks, medical, etc.) and office demand to serve the residents of new neighbourhood centres as well as the broader community of Brookswood-Fernridge. This demand forecast will also assist and inform the ‘right sizing’ of the commercial space provided in the commercial centres, as well as neighbourhood design more generally.

Environmental assessment – The purpose of this assessment is to implement Policy #4, subsection 9.1 of the Brookswood-Fernridge community plan (2017), which provides two-fold direction. Based on this policy, the first objective of this assessment is to complete an updated inventory or “baseline” of environmental areas and features. A scientific approach was taken to collecting, categorizing and prioritizing this environmental “baseline data”. Consultants (such as biologists, arborists, geographic information systems specialists) identified and mapped natural and semi-natural environmental areas and features, for both terrestrial and aquatic contexts, assessing the size, distribution and relative value of natural habitats, and examining the potential connections between them.

The second objective of the assessment is to develop a strategic approach or policy framework that will culminate in the incorporation of environmental network planning for the purposes of identifying priorities, restoration and enhancement of a network of important environmental and natural assets that support biodiversity.

One of the key goals for the neighbourhood plans project is public reporting.  We recognize the importance in doing so, but also realize some of this material can be a bit challenging to read and understand.

The information contained in these documents is highly technical, a term that refers to the meaning, language and practice of a specific field of professional expertise (e.g., biologist, civil engineer, economist). If you are not immersed in the technical aspects of a specific field of expertise, it is difficult to self-educate in order to understand what is being presented and discussed in these documents.

This highly technical material, however, is foundational and of critical importance to help shape and define the outcomes of the plan. These documents will help inform environmental policies, land use policies, utility service policies and engineering standards, commercial policies within the neighbourhood plans, among many other policy themes.

More technical documents and information will be released over the coming weeks. These will include Technical Memorandums regarding rainwater and drainage management, sanitary sewer servicing, water servicing, and transportation, as well as a tree canopy assessment, and a policy and technical backgrounder, just to name a few. Stay tuned!

Lastly, there are public input and feedback opportunities planned in the coming months, specifically in early 2020. More information regarding future public engagement events will be communicated on this page as well as through email notifications, as specific event dates and times are finalized.

Not signed up for email notifications? Go to tol.ca/enews and select the ‘Brookswood-Fernridge planning’ category for important project updates.

Phase 1 engagement summary report now available

Phase 1 of the Brookswood-Fernridge neighbourhood plans project is now complete and summaries of all the input received are available below:

Engagement snapshot: summary of the phase 1 engagement initiatives and the key themes that emerged from the input received.

Memo to Mayor and Council:

• Summary of the phase 1 engagement initiatives and the key themes that emerged from the input received
• Copy of the notes from the May 6, 2019 combined neighbourhood planning team and neighbourhood planning sub-teams
• Full phase 1 engagement summary report

We would like to thank everyone who was able to participate in the engagement events during Phase 1, and look forward to seeing you at future engagement events this winter. Stay tuned for future webpage and email updates with more details about the next round of public engagement events.

We also encourage residents to complete the online questionnaire before Tuesday, July 2.

Looking for the videos displayed at the open house? Find them on our YouTube channel:

• Planning and paying for infrastructure
• Planning for growth and change
• Complete communities and small-town character

Upcoming public engagement events

The Township of Langley is beginning a public engagement process as part of the preparation of three neighbourhood plans for Booth, Fernridge, and Rinn in the Brookswood-Fernridge. The preparation of these three neighbourhood plans will focus on more detailed refinements of future land uses and densities, as well as street, block, and lot patterns. This process will also develop policies to guide planning and design of buildings, streets, parks, active transportation, amenities, municipal infrastructure, and implementation.

Your input is needed to help shape this effort!

Public open house

Tuesday, June 18, 2019
4:00 - 8:00pm (drop-in)
South Langley Church, 20098 - 22 Avenue, Langley

This first public open house will be a ‘drop-in’, interactive public engagement event. The purpose of this open house will be to present background information, provide an overview of the neighbourhood plans process, and seek public input on community values and key assets in the Booth, Fernridge, and Rinn neighbourhood plan areas.

Following this open house, an online questionnaire will be made available here on this page, as well as the open house presentation panels for your review.

When the update process to community plan for Brookswood-Fernridge took place, we heard many things expressed by residents, landowners and business operators. Specifically, we heard from many who wanted full transparency in terms of the process and our public engagement and we also heard that many wanted to know all the details as they unfolded.

The preparation of the neighbourhood plans in Brookswood-Fernridge, essentially starts where the community plan for Brookswood-Fernridge ended; the preparation of the neighbourhood plans is a continuation of the conversation. The community plan policy provides direction and guidance for the preparation of the neighbourhood plans. Therefore, the policy themes and topics remain the same between the two types of plans; just the scale, resolution and specificity changes.

For example, through the preparation of the community plan, we heard and discussed at length the importance of trees and forests. Through the preparation of the neighbourhood plans for Booth, Fernridge and Rinn, we continue to talk about trees and forests. We are at that phase in neighbourhood plan preparation that emerging policy directions have been identified that provide greater details that build on the more generalized policies of the community plan. Ideas introduced include a multilayered policy approach under the Neighbourhood Forestry policy umbrella, new ideas for cluster conservation development approach to subdivision and land development that would require dedication of nature conservation areas/forest stands, new housing ideas that provide greater setbacks and reduced lot coverage compared to the typical in order to accommodate trees, to name just a few. 

Success in creating distinct neighbourhoods that reflect a small town character and that integrates all of the things we have been talking about will require policy and regulatory details.  That is what the neighbourhood plan process is working on. The conversations and engagement, now and going forward to the completion of the Booth, Fernridge and Rinn neighbourhood plans, will remain focused on full transparency and sharing policy details in order to hone and fine-tune the policy results so that distinct outcomes in the built environment – the buildings and infrastructure of the neighbourhood – will come to fruition. Thank you for your perseverance and continued contributions; it is greatly appreciated.

The following videos, that were part of our phase public engagement, might provide a bit of context for some of you. The links are as follows:

• Planning and paying for infrastructure
• Planning for growth and change
• Complete communities and small-town character

As a preliminary step prior to the initiation of neighbourhood planning process, an environmental assessment is being completed. This environmental assessment began in July 2018 and is expected to take approximately 10 to 12 months, with a final report due on or before spring 2019. 

On January 21, 2019, Township Council approved the project terms of reference, with amendments, as the next step in the preparation of Booth, Fernridge and Rinn neighbourhood plans.

When complete, this environmental assessment will seek to verify, among other environmental resources and features, the presence of watercourses and other surface waterbodies, mature tree stands, and other vegetation/plant communities. Outcomes of the environmental assessment will be made publicly available.

From an operational perspective, this means applications will be received, processed in a preliminary way, and held while the neighbourhood planning process is underway. Applicants will be encouraged to follow along with process in order to understand emerging policy and ensure the development applications submitted comply with the Neighbourhood Plans that go forward for Council consideration.

More details can be found on the neighbourhood planning team page.

As this moment, the environmental assessment is the only portion of the pre-neighbourhood plan underway. As the neighbourhood plans move forward, information will be made available here, and through email notifications which you can sign up for at tol.ca/enews by selecting the ‘Brookswood-Fernridge Plans’ notification category.

Staff can be reached directly any time at bfnp@tol.ca.