A massive redevelopment of the Langley Mall and next-door Tim Hortons property near Langley City Hall would build six residential high-rises over 10 to 20 years, with commercial space that is expected to include a grocery store.
As proposed by Langley-based Orion construction, the preliminary design shows most of the buildings on the nine-acre site would be up to 14 stories tall.
Orion has applied to have the site rezoned to a Comprehensive Development (CD) zone that would allow higher densities than currently permitted under its existing C1 designation, but without changing the maximum allowable height.
A report on the application to Langley City's Advisory Design Panel by City planner Anton Metalnikov noted the site has been "envisioned to accommodate buildings up to 15 storeys in height since 2009, when a site concept for the future redevelopment of the Langley Mall was included in the Downtown Master Plan."
The mall and its parking lot at 5501 204 St. and the Tim Hortons at 20300 Douglas Cres. are a five- to seven-minute walk from the impending Langley City Centre SkyTrain station and its associated transit exchange, Metalnikov estimated.
As for the No Frills grocery store currently at the mall, which is the only grocery store serving area residents, Metalnikov reported the applicant "has indicated that a grocery store use will be maintained as a part of the redevelopment of the site (although likely relocated to a phase fronting Douglas Crescent) and the existing mall commercial space will be largely replaced within new phases on Douglas Cresent."
He also noted the Tim Hortons has a "multi-decade" lease, which will affect the construction schedule.
Work is expected to take up to 20 years to complete, starting with the southwest quadrant (five years to completion), followed by the northwest (five-10 years), then the southeast (10-15 years), and finishing with the northeast quadrant (15-20 years).
Plans include a "pocket park," accessible to the public, and a new internal east-west street between 203 Street and 204 Street and a new north-south street that connects Douglas Crescent to the new east-west street.
Orion's rezoning application will be reviewed by the City Advisory Design Panel (ADP) at its July 18 meeting.
Dan Ferguson
