A partial reprieve has saved more than half of Glen Valley’s Gray Pit lands from the auction block.

A series of parcels along the western edge of the block, at 257A Street north of 84th Avenue, will not be sold, Langley Township Mayor Jack Froese announced Monday night.

Four lots facing 260th Street, to the east of the block of municipal land, will be sold, two of the lots immediately, Froese said.

The decision to keep 25 acres of the land comes after months of lobbying by a new local group called Watchers of Langley Forests (WOLF).

“Council agreed that this forested land is an important and valuable environmental area and is significant to our community,” Froese said.

“The area being retained is the treed portion of the former gravel pit site, and remediation work will be done to the property where necessary, and council may consider designating it as park land in the future,” said Froese.

Hilary Ruffini, a member of WOLF, was in the council audience for the announcement.

While she was sad not all the land has been saved from sale, the land that will be preserved is the one people have the most access to as an informal park.

“A lot of people have discovered it, and make use of it on a regular basis now,” Ruffini said.

Township Councillor David Davis said the council would have liked to preserve all of the land, but preserving part of it while selling the eastern lands is a win-win, he said.

The sale of the four eastern lots will go towards funding for the construction of a new Aldergrove recreation centre, including an indoor pool and relocated ice arena and library.