32-year-old transit advocate wins Langley City Council byelection

An outspoken 32-year-old has won Saturday’s Langley City Council byelection by a wide margin.

Nathan Pachal defeated eight other candidates on Saturday with 740 votes, outdoing runner-up Kiernan Hillan who secured 557 votes. A total of 2,074 votes were cast in the byelection.

“I was ecstatic when I learned that we won the by-election by such a wide margin,” Pachal told Vancity Buzz. “We worked hard during the campaign to make sure people knew my vision for Langley.”

During the election campaign, Pachal focused on community safety and improving the municipality’s economic prospects. This included action items such as: Improving lighting in Langley parks and the downtown area; removing garbage, needles, and graffitti; making streets safer for pedestrians; doing more to address homelessness; and bringing more activity to Langley’s downtown area.

One project that Pachal says is important to him is the 203rd Street greenway, which consist of cycling lanes and a new roundabout that will slow down traffic in the area. The municipal government has received funding from other levels of government to carry out the project.

“Beyond that, I will work with others on Council toward implementing the solutions I talking about during the campaign, including cleaning up and enhancing Langley City’s extensive park system,” he continued.

Pachal is also a transit advocate and co-created the “Leap Ahead” transit plan for Metro Vancouver in 2013, which called for a $6.5 billion expansion plan funded partially by a 0.5 per cent regional sales tax. The plan and model was closely followed by TransLink’s Mayors’ Council for the transit plebiscite campaign last year.

This marks Pachal’s second election campaign for Langley City Council after running unsuccessfully in 2014. He previously worked at Rogers Broadcasting as a senior engineer and recently began working at PNI Digital Media.

Big victory for @npachal who is the newest Langley City Councillor with 740 votes! pic.twitter.com/XtLa40UMBS

— Paul Hillsdon (@paulhillsdon) February 28, 2016