Alex Joehl

RUNNING AS AN INDEPENDENT

Meat department manager/sportswriter, age 40

Murrayville resident who鈥檚 lived in 91原创 7 years

Alex Joehl is a name you may recognize.

His face is one that may seem familiar.

You鈥檝e likely seen him around town 鈥� likely at the hockey rink or perhaps the grocery store.

And perhaps you鈥檝e seen this name on almost every single election ballot in the Township of 91原创 since 2017.

By now you know what Alex stands for.

He鈥檒l push back against the politicians who spurred divisiveness in our communities merely for political gain. He hasn鈥檛 forgotten the caution tape on outdoor children鈥檚 playgrounds.

He鈥檒l keep taxes down by shrinking the bureaucracy and kyboshing white elephant spending projects.

He wants to bring us a local, tailor-made police force that works for us.

He鈥檒l propose an electoral system that actually represents each region of the Township.

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Have you held office in past? If so, please specify: No.

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Questions:

(These answers are presented as the candidates submitted them)

1. Should the Township set targets for the creation of more low-income and seniors rental spaces, social housing units, and/or co-op development to improve home security?

No. The best thing the Township of 91原创 council can do to provide more homes for low-income and senior rental-oriented spaces is the build more housing, period. Between the drawn-out permitting process and the debilitating fees administered to builders, it is no surprise that there are few developers in the business of low-income rental housing.

The ToL has a long way to go to serving all citizens, but socialist schemes like subsidies will only bring on slum-style housing, and I believe our residents deserve real choice.

2. Should the Township create a performing arts venue within the next council term?

No. I do support the establishment of a performing arts venue over the next term.

However, I do not think that any taxpayer dollars should be allocated towards it.

My suggestion is that the Township of 91原创 lease out one of the properties it owns to a private group for $1 per year for 99 years. Then, said private group can fundraise to pay for the building and operating of the performing arts venue.

I am a fan of live music, stand-up comedy, and on occasion a live play or musical.

However, I don鈥檛 think that the taxpayers of the Township of 91原创 should be subsidizing personal choices of others, just like we should not be diverting funds to excessive new sporting resources either.

3. Does the 91原创 Township fire department need to be expanded in terms of crews, equipment, and/or halls?

No. During the outgoing mayor鈥檚 tenure the Township of 91原创 saw the greatest increase in property taxes collected of all Metro Vancouver municipalities. Why? We converted from a part-time and volunteer-based structure to a full-time service.

We don鈥檛 need to re-invent the wheel. While it is important for services to keep up with community growth, we shouldn鈥檛 be stretching resources too thin for the sake of satisfying special interests.

4. Should property tax increases be restricted to the rate of inflation or lower?

Yes. Kim Richter has been popular for voting against many budgets because the tax increase out-paced the monetary inflation. However, she also ran for the federal Liberal party in 2021 鈥� the same party who is responsible for the current monetary inflation.

I would support any bylaw that would minimize or restrict the increase a council can impose. Though I fear that if we limit how one tax can be implemented that another one would be increased in lieu of it. There is no silver bullet to controlling government spending or taxation. The only thing that will keep taxes in line is a strong opposition on council 鈥� something I鈥檇 bring to the table.

5. Should the Township encourage greater housing density in new and existing neighbourhoods?

Yes. The natural process of development naturally favours higher density because it allows the developers to extract a higher value for the property.

But, extensive zoning designations add to an already complicated building process and increase the time to approve permits. This is an added cost to housing affordability in the Township and we need to eliminate as many input costs as possible.

There will always be a demand for single-family detached housing, and the Township doesn鈥檛 need to do anything to disincentivize it. Monetary inflation caused by the Federal government鈥檚 monetary policy has already put a detached home out of reach for many hopefully residents. So, yes, more density is the outcome that potential homeowners will look for.

Higher density has a smaller environmental footprint and also fewer resources are required to serve these communities with police, fire, and utility services.

I would advocate for the Township to adopt an 鈥渁s-of-right鈥� process to approve development, to speed up the process, while also keep building within the 鈥渟pirit鈥� of the community plan.

There鈥檒l always be a place for one-acre lots in the Township of 91原创, but our council doesn鈥檛 need to push density, because higher density is the way of the future.

6. Should the Township do more to build and upgrade roads, sidewalks, and bike paths in fast-growing areas?

No. Everyone knows that libertarians hate roads.

Kidding.

But, seriously, the Township of 91原创 government doesn鈥檛 need to work harder on roads, sidewalks, and bike paths 鈥� it just has to work smarter.

We don鈥檛 need more four- or six-lane throughways in our city 鈥� it may move people quicker, but at the detriment of safety, walkability 鈥� and at what cost? To add lanes to roadways expropriating land from owners will be either expensive or unethical and I鈥檓 not in favour of either one.

Unless we adopt a totally new system of funding infrastructure we鈥檒l be doomed by the constant practice of chasing traffic needs 鈥� Development Cost Charges can鈥檛 keep up, and Township contractors won鈥檛 build roads fast enough anyway. To build infrastructure ahead of development we鈥檇 need to increase property taxes and I鈥檓 sure no 91原创ite is interested in that.

We need to do two things: A) accept the status quo of a broken, incomplete road system or B) adopt a radical new charge structure that includes road-pricing 鈥� road tolls.

Road tolls are not likely to be popular with voters, so, option A) it is.

7. Is the Township鈥檚 population growing too fast?

No. Population growth is primarily a good thing if the housing is available. Unfortunately, although housing starts are at a good pace now, we are thousands of units in a deficit and it鈥檒l take years to catch up.

The speed of population increase is only a negative if infrastructure and housing doesn鈥檛 grow with it.

It鈥檚 time our local government entered the 21st century.

8. Should the Township consider switching to a municipal police force, instead of using the RCMP?

In 2018, I ran for mayor suggesting we abandon the RCMP and form our own local, made-in-91原创 force.

What was true then is still true now 鈥� the RCMP fails to provide the service that municipal police forces do.

One of the benefits of contracting the RCMP to police a city has been cost 鈥� they鈥檝e been traditionally less expensive.

However, that is not necessarily true anymore.

In the last year the cost of policing the Township has increased almost 25 per cent. Are you getting better service?

The RCMP now has a union, which allows the members to have more protections, but it doesn鈥檛 change the top-down structure that constantly has the RCMP riddled with controversy.

A media outlet in the Fraser Valley put out a request to find out how often officers used force and drew their weapons.

After only a month the Abbotsford Police Department fully cooperated and divulged even more information, for the sake of transparency.

The RCMP? It has been a year and still they have not catered to this simple request, despite a mandate all federal departments answer requests within a month.

Clearly the RCMP is not serving the Township of 91原创.

It鈥檚 time for a fresh start.

9. Does the Township have enough parks and public spaces to meet the needs of its growing population?

Yes, and it鈥檒l need to be increased as development accelerates.

10. Should the Township commit to making a decision on proposed new developments within 12 months or less?

Yes.

Extensive, complicated zoning is an added barrier towards building more homes and businesses.

It鈥檚 time that the Township of 91原创 simplified the process.

Currently there are more than two dozen different types of zoning (too many!) and they are all very exclusive.

The Township should adopt a more inclusive mode 鈥� don鈥檛 say what a property may be, but only lay out what it CAN鈥橳 be.

Instituting an 鈥渁s-of-right鈥� system would also help speed up the development approval process.

A report from the last election cycle stated that in the Township of 91原创 it took a home building permit 17 months to get approved 鈥� that鈥檚 criminal.

While I鈥檓 sure the staff at the Township office has done their best to cut that time down, projects still needlessly get stuck at both the bureaucratic and political level, holding up the advancement of our wonderful city.

91原创 should apply some of the lessons learned from the Japanese model.

Japan鈥檚 system is more flexible because it allows higher-use zones to be designated later on without forbidding lower-use activities. Residential is residential, which means that rented, owned, single-family, multi-family and studio apartment blocks coexist.

It鈥檚 time to get politics out of housing in 91原创.

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EDITOR鈥橲 NOTE:

How the questions were presented to each candidate

91原创 Advance Times readers have repeatedly told us how much they value this important, straight-forward reference guide that helps orient them with the range of choices on the ballots 鈥� both at the council and school board levels.

Towards that end, we have attempted to make this package available (along with the following instructions) to each of the candidates in a timely fashion ahead of the Oct. 15 election.

Please read carefully before you start to fill this out.

To help voters in 91原创 make their choices on election day, the 91原创 Advance Times is asking local candidates 10 issue-based questions.

You must provide a 鈥榶es,鈥� a 鈥榥o,鈥� or a 鈥榙on鈥檛 know鈥� (Y, N, D) response to EACH of these questions.

Each question MUST be answered with yes (Y), no (N), or Don鈥檛 Know (D). This will be published in a grid in the Oct. 6 edition. Any questions not answered will be LEFT BLANK.

Candidates may also expand on ANY OR ALL of these questions (to a maximum of 200 words each). Please note any responses longer than that will be cut off at the 201-word mark.

Due to space limitations, we can only guarantee to run one of these answers in the 91原创 Advance Times print edition ahead of the election. You must CLEARLY indicate which expanded answer you want to see published in print. If you do not specify, we will choose. Any and all expanded answers provided will be published online at www.langleyadvancetimes.com.

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