The Amenity Charge, After the Court
The appeal that did not proceed. The Township filed a notice of appeal in July 2025. On 11 May 2026 it filed a notice of abandonment, about a month before the Court of Appeal was to hear the case, and the Supreme Court decision stands. Law firm commentary published on 1 September 2026 describes the decision as final authority on the point for municipalities across the province.
The interim policy. On 7 July 2025 council adopted Interim Policy No. 07-170. Under it, staff discuss amenity contributions with applicants and negotiate case by case, with contributions made at the applicant's initiative or as a result of rezoning negotiations. The Township states that the interim policy remains in effect until every application received before the new bylaw was adopted has been processed.
The bylaw that replaced it. Amenity Cost Charge Bylaw No. 6115 received first reading on 21 July 2025 and second reading on 15 December 2025, and was adopted on 23 March 2026. Amenity cost charges are a tool the Province added to the Local Government Act in November 2023. The charge must be set by bylaw, be similar for developments expected to add similar population, and go into a reserve fund with annual reporting.
The rates. The Township's published rates are $19,571 per dwelling unit for single and two-family residential, $13,584 per unit for ground-oriented multi-family, and $8,634 per apartment unit. Commercial and institutional floor space is charged $65.62 per square metre, which is $6.10 per square foot, and industrial $25.90 per square metre, or $2.41 per square foot.
What the charges fund. The Township lists eight projects: an ice and dry arenas facility, a convention centre and a concert and performance hall at the Langley Events Centre, Smith Athletic Park, the Willoughby Community Centre, the Aldergrove Community Centre expansion, the Brookswood-Fernridge Community Centre and the Willowbrook Community Centre. Reporting at the time of the abandoned appeal noted that amenity cost charges cannot fund firehalls or affordable housing, which the former contributions could.
Which applications pay which. The Township states that an application received before the bylaw's final adoption is an in-stream application and is not subject to it; those proceed under the interim policy. Applications received after 23 March 2026 are subject to the bylaw.
Where this sits beside the other charges. The amenity cost charge is separate from development cost charges, which fund roads, sewer, water, drainage and parks under their own bylaw, and from school site acquisition charges. Each may apply to a new home in the Township, subject to when the application was received, the number of net additional units and any credits or exemptions. None of them appears on a resale listing; they are costs of creating a new unit, and how much of any such cost reaches the price of a new home or of the land beneath it is not something these documents establish.
For an owner of land. The figures above are what the Township has published for new applications. What applies to a particular parcel depends on when an application was received, what is being built and what else was agreed in a rezoning. Our earlier reports Your Lot's Second Price and Subdividing in Langley: What It Takes describe the wider process and remain as published.
Sourced from the Township of Langley's Community Amenity Contributions and Amenity Cost Charges pages, the Urban Development Institute's published updates on the decision and the bylaw, Fasken's commentary of 1 September 2026 on Lorval Developments Ltd. v. Langley (Township), 2025 BCSC 1148, and Black Press reporting of 15 May 2026 on the abandoned appeal, all read 6 October 2026. We read summaries of the judgment and not the judgment itself. This report describes and informs; it is not legal advice, and a specific application deserves specific verification with the Township and a lawyer.