Fact Check: Three Letters, Three Stories

The mayor mailed a different letter to each neighbourhood. In each one, Langley Strong is blamed for something his own council did.

The Claim

Dated September 30, Eric Woodward’s Progress for Langley junk mail landed in mailboxes across the Township, each one tailored to the neighbourhood on the envelope. The shared text tells every reader that his council “maintained some of the lowest property taxes in Metro Vancouver,” that it is “paying for it with development revenues, ensuring that growth pays for growth, not property taxes,” and that it is “Contract with Langley made, Contract with Langley honoured.”

Then each neighbourhood gets its own villain. Brookswood is told “we created the Fernridge Nature Park, formerly Horne Pit, rather than developing it, as was planned by our opposition.” Walnut Grove is told that residents “complained about the quality of the water in their homes. We fixed it in our first few weeks, and the opposition voted against it. They will take you back to low-quality well water.” Rural residents are told “we just can’t have a Council that will vote to remove land from the ALR for their friends, like our opposition voted to do this term.”

A note on the word “opposition.” That is the mayor’s word. The people he means are Langley Strong councillors Kim Richter, Margaret Kunst, Barb Martens and Blair Whitmarsh. We use their names, as they were elected to represent you.

The Verdict

MISLEADING. The plan to put housing, a school and a fire hall on Horne Pit was his council’s own plan, adopted in July 2023 over the objections of residents and naturalists who wanted a park, with Kim Richter voting no at every reading. He changed course only after the Province forced the plan back open and the residents kept pushing. The motion that switched Walnut Grove to Metro water passed on November 14, 2022, with nobody opposed; Martens and Kunst voted for it (Richter was away). The only “vote against” in the minutes is the mayor’s slate voting down a Kunst-Richter motion to keep one well as an emergency backup, which Fraser Health had asked council to do. The ALR vote he blames on “our opposition this term” happened last term, and the only ALR exclusion his council voted on got final approval from him, with his words “a step in the right direction.” His usual tax and growth-pays-for-growth lines have been checked before and have not improved with repetition. Three letters, three false stories, one record. We read it.

Key Points

Horne Pit: the plan to build homes, a school and a fire hall on the old quarry was adopted by Woodward’s council on July 24, 2023, moved by the mayor himself. Richter voted no. Watch the vote.
Residents and naturalists asked for a park in May 2023 and were turned down. The plan kept only about 45% of the quarry as park. Fraser Valley Current, May 27, 2024.
The park he brags about only came after the Province’s late-2023 housing law forced the Township to reopen the plan, and after residents kept pushing. Council’s March 25, 2024 redo principles added “additional preservation or park space(s) within the lands known as ‘Horne Pit’.” Township report, April 29, 2024.
Walnut Grove water: the motion to switch North Langley to Metro Vancouver water passed November 14, 2022, CARRIED, no names opposed. Martens and Kunst voted for it; Richter was away. Watch the vote.
The only split vote: December 12, 2022, Kunst and Richter moved to keep Fort Langley Well #2 usable as an emergency backup, citing Fraser Health. Defeated by the Woodward slate. Watch it.
The ALR: the Gloucester rezoning vote was May 2022, the previous council. His council gave the final approval on March 17, 2023, and he called it “a step in the right direction.” Documented September 27.
“Lowest property taxes in Metro Vancouver”: the Township’s own 2024 tax newsletter ranks his 6.88% increase 8th of 19. About 22% compounded over the term. Documented September 27.
“Growth pays for growth, not property taxes”: the CAC policy he relied on was set aside by the BC Supreme Court; the appeal was abandoned; the 2026 debt bill is $47.7 million, part of it from reserves and the tax-supported budget. Documented September 27.
“Contract honoured”: the Willoughby pool promised in 2022 has no budget or timeline and the 2025 call for a builder was cancelled; the 300 homes for the homeless promised on Township land in 2022 have no public count. And he promised no tax increases for capital projects, also untrue. Langley Union, October 6, 2026.

1. Brookswood: He Planned to Build on Horne Pit. The People Stopped Him.

First, the basics. Horne Pit is an old gravel quarry off 200 Street in Fernridge, about 70 acres, owned by the Township. Mining stopped decades ago, groundwater filled the pits, and a wetland grew back. Local naturalists have asked the Township to make it a park since the early 2000s. The Fraser Valley Current tells the whole history.

When Woodward’s council wrote the new Fernridge Neighbourhood Plan in 2023, it did not make Horne Pit a park. It planned housing, a school and a fire hall on the site and kept about 45% of the old quarry as park. Council saw the Horne Pit site plan on May 8, 2023. That month, ecologists Miles Lamont and Michael Davies and the Little Campbell Watershed Society asked council to protect more of the wetland. Council said no. On June 26, 2023 it gave the plan second reading, with Richter opposed (video). On July 24, 2023 it adopted the plan, moved by Mayor Woodward, with Richter opposed again (video). That is the plan to develop Horne Pit. It is his and in the minutes under his name.

What changed was not the mayor’s mind. In late 2023 the Province passed new housing laws that forced every municipality, Langley included, to reopen its neighbourhood plans. That reopening gave the residents who had been shut out in May 2023 a second chance, and they took it. On March 25, 2024, council set out principles for the redo, including “additional preservation or park space(s) within the lands known as ‘Horne Pit’” (video). Township staff drew the nature-park concept and brought it back on April 29, 2024.pdf). The revised Fernridge plan is the result.

So the sequence is: residents asked for a park; the mayor adopted a plan to build on the site instead, with Richter voting no; the Province forced the plan back open; the residents asked again; and only then did the mayor reverse himself. His letter to Brookswood now tells voters the development plan belonged to “our opposition” and claims the park was his idea all along. The development plan was moved by Eric Woodward on July 24, 2023. The park belongs to the people who would not stop asking for it.

2. Walnut Grove: Langley Strong Councillors Voted FOR the Water Fix. The Minutes Say So.

First, the basics. For years, homes in Walnut Grove and Fort Langley got some of their drinking water from Township wells, and residents complained about the quality. The fix was to shut the well and buy more water from Metro Vancouver, the regional supplier that already serves most of the Township.

That fix is item P.4 of the November 14, 2022 council meeting, “Final Resolution of North Langley Water Issues.” It directed staff to decommission Fort Langley Well #2 and replace its supply to Walnut Grove and Fort Langley with bulk water from Metro Vancouver. The Township’s own minutes record the result: CARRIED, with no councillor opposed. Councillors Kunst and Martens voted for it (Richter was away). You can watch the vote on the Township’s YouTube channel. The letter’s claim that “the opposition voted against it” is contradicted by the minutes of the meeting where it passed.

There was one vote where the two sides split, and it was not about well water. About two weeks after the November decision, Fraser Health wrote to council about “public health factors that should be taken into consideration regarding the decision to maintain a back-up water supply,” warning that “having access to multiple water sources is critical in managing hazards such as the loss of a primary water source” and that the Metro Vancouver pipe on 201 Street does not meet seismic standards. The Fraser Valley Current reported the letter on January 10, 2023. On December 12, 2022, Councillor Kunst, seconded by Councillor Richter, moved item O.8: continue decommissioning the well as directed, but leave it in a state where it “could be used as a backup source of water in case of an emergency.” The minutes record it DEFEATED, with Mayor Woodward and his slate opposed. The mayor called the well “a zombie creature at the end of a bad movie that just won’t die.” Watch it here.

So the record is this: Langley Strong councillors voted to give Walnut Grove Metro water, then voted to keep a backup in case the one pipe into North Langley fails in an earthquake, as the health authority asked. The mayor’s side voted the backup down. The letter tells Walnut Grove that Langley Strong “will take you back to low-quality well water.” The minutes say Langley Strong voted for the fix and the mayor voted against the safety net.

One more thing the letter leaves out. A retired senior Township water operator told the Current in 2025 that a treatment system for the well had already been bought and installed before the 2022 election, that fixing it would have cost less than buying Metro water, and that the order to shut the well down came the day Woodward was elected. The Township did not respond to the Current’s questions.

3. Rural Langley: The ALR Vote He Blames on “This Term” Happened Last Term

First, the basics. The ALR is the Agricultural Land Reserve, the provincial zone that protects farmland from being built on. Taking land out of it is decided by the Agricultural Land Commission, not by a council, though councils vote on what happens to the land afterward.

The rural letter warns of “a Council that will vote to remove land from the ALR for their friends, like our opposition voted to do this term.” We documented this one on September 27 when he said it on a podcast. The only recent ALR exclusion is the 36-acre Gloucester site, which the Agricultural Land Commission removed after a court ordered it to reconsider. Council’s rezoning vote was May 2022, the previous term, 5-3, with then-Councillor Woodward voting no. As mayor, he brought it back for final approval on March 17, 2023, with $22.3 million attached, and told the chamber “this is a step in the right direction.” Nobody on either slate is campaigning to remove farmland from the ALR, and Langley Strong’s platform contains no such proposal. But the one ALR exclusion approved “this term” has his signature on it.

4. Every Neighbourhood: The Two Lines He Has Been Caught On Before

“Some of the lowest property taxes in Metro Vancouver.” The Township’s own 2024 property tax newsletter ranks his 6.88% increase eighth of nineteen municipalities. The term’s increases are 5.37%, 6.88%, 4.50% and 3.97%, about 22% compounded. This year at least six councils approved lower increases. Documented September 27.

“Paying for it with development revenues, ensuring that growth pays for growth, not property taxes.” The development fee he relied on, the CAC policy, was set aside by the BC Supreme Court on June 20, 2025 as “beyond Langley’s legal authority.” The Township abandoned its appeal on May 11, 2026. The 2026 budget shows a $47.7 million debt bill, with $10.1 million drawn from reserves to meet it and two new loans, for the Aldergrove parkade and culverts, repaid from general revenue, which is property tax. Documented September 27.

“Contract with Langley made, Contract with Langley honoured.” The Langley Union checked the 2022 promises on October 6. The Willoughby pool, promised in 2022, has no confirmed budget or timeline, and the Township cancelled its 2025 call for a builder. The 300 homes for the homeless on Township land, promised in 2022, have no public count, and the Township did not answer the Union’s questions. The efficiency savings he now says “we can only implement next term” were also a 2022 promise. There was also a promise that no property taxes would pay for his long list of capital project promises, and that has been repeatedly broken.

The Bottom Line

The mayor is counting on voters not doublechecking his statements. In Brookswood, the plan to build on Horne Pit was his, moved by him on July 24, 2023, and the park exists only because residents kept asking and the Province forced the plan back open. In Walnut Grove, Langley Strong councillors voted for the Metro water fix, the minutes say so, and the only “no” votes in the file are the mayor’s side voting down a backup well that Fraser Health asked for. In rural Langley, the ALR vote he pins on “this term” was last term, and the final approval this term was his own. The tax line and the growth-pays-for-growth line were wrong on September 27 and are wrong on September 30. Every correction here comes from the Township’s own minutes, a public health letter, a court ruling or local reporting, and every one is linked. Bad leaders mislead.