Home: Langley Community
Langley actually consists of two entitites, the City of Langley (23,000) and the Township of Langley (78,000), as well as teh comunity of Aldergrove to the east.
The City, on the mid-western edge of the Township, serves as a regional commercial centre and has a neat and pedestrian-oriented business district of stores and services. The semi-rural land that make up the Township houses not just farmers but young working families. As you move east up the Fraser Valley, the winters get a little brisker, as you lose the steadying influence of ocean waters.
Langley has the most reasonable industrial tax base of cities in the Lower Mainland, leading to strong business growth, though the community is only looking for environmentally-friendly industries. The fast recent growth around Langley has led to urban-rural clashes, including overcrowded schools and that nice manure smell. The commute into Vancouver is using either the Fraser Highway (1A) or the Trans-Canada Highway (1), an the commute into Vancouver is typically 50 minutes. For those who fly, just east of the City is Langley Airport.
Langley is named for the fort, which was named for Hudson;s Bay Company director Thomas Langley. Aldergrowth is named for the area's abundance of second-growth alder trees.
Housing
Homes in Langley run $150,000-300,000 with condos costing typically $95,000-170,000.
There are new low-rise condos in the town core, and moving to older bungalows, small ranchers and split-levels as you move further out. In the countryside, there are even a few expensive rural estates. Brookswood, a 12,000 sized community south of Langley has both single family and mobile homes attracted to quaint shopping and a civic recreation centre. Aldergrove, a 10,000 sized community on the south eastern edge of Langley attracts residents with its large shopping mall, ice arena, six parks, and easy access to the United States with a border crossing close-by. Willowbrook on the City’s northern edge has a shopping mall and a racquetball club. Walnut Grove north of the Trans-Canada Highway is close to the Fraser River and Derby Reach Regional Park, and has a good supply of
recently built homes. Forest Hills is a planned community for single family homes and townhouses, requiring all home plans to be approved prior to construction. Fort Langley, site of the original 1827 Hudson’s Bay trading fort in the area, is now a significant tourist area, and resale homes are hard to come by.
Schools
Langley has 33 elementary and 10 secondary schools, and the district offers programs for French immersion, and for the diabled and hearing-impaired. A Francophone program is offered at Bradshaw Elementary (K-7). Post-secondary opportunities are broad with a fine arts school in Fort Langley,
Trinity Western University in Langley, and Kwantlen College has a campus in the City of Langley. Simon Fraser University is a half hour away up the Trans-Canada highway in Burnaby.
Shopping
There are a number of shopping malls around Langley. You can shop in quaint shopping districts in the City, Brookswood, Fort Langley, and Aldergrove.
Recreation
The area has a number of fine Regional Parks (offering creeks, lake, rivers and history), several golf courses, and a wave pool. For kids, there is the 50 hectare Greater Vancouver Zoo, with over 70 animal species.
Community Map
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