Inside Langford

In a comment yesterday, “JH getting caught up on the GG” said:

I was suurprised to read:

Langford Seeks Sportsplex Funds in Wed., Nov. 4th GG p. A5

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/goldstreamgazette/news/67254962.html

I thought the deal with the Federal infrastructure stimulus spending money was “shovel-ready” projects, where the local government already had their 1/3 portion in place, would get funding. So why is Mayor Stew Young quoted as saying, “the City is trying to get future facility operator Xcalibur Bowling to pay $4.46 million to build the bowling centre.” And Councillor Lanny Seaton suggests, “If Xcalibur doesn’t come up with the funding, the City will need to go through a counter-petition or referendum process to get public permission to borrow the money.”

Since when does the City of Langford need new money, and possibly borrowed money, to complete a project that been on the books for at least 2 years?!

Once I figured out that the “GG” in “JH getting caught up on the GG” referred to “Goldstream Gazette” and not the “Governor General”, I was quite intriqued by the comment. I’ve converted it into a post because I suspect it may trigger other comments, and because “Reader News” doesn’t do it justice since the reader was making an (from what I can tell quite astute) comment. I too understood that all projects had to be shovel ready both in the sense of legislative and zoning approval in place, and the local portion of the funds already in hand and allocated, but I must admit I hadn’t made the connection when reading the Gazette article. Thank you for your comment, JH.

Vibrant Victoria has asked me to do a few articles a month for them, and the first results of this collaboration are now available on their website:

Honouring Canada’s veterans, one vote at a time (editorial)

Threat of arrests halts annual invasive species removal on Skirt Mountain (news story)

The first discusses reform at the local government level, the second is a news story on today’s proposed Broom Bash that was cancelled at the last minute.

PZ&A (Planning, Zoning, and Affordable Housing), T&PW (Transportation and Public Works), and A&F (Administration and Finance) are all having meeting this coming week. Monday has a PZ&A meeting, the other two are on Tuesday. Agendas for all three are available on the City of Langford website, and here on Inside Langford in the Files section on the left sidebar.

Notice anything interest? Let us know in the comments.

In the midst of everything else that has been hapening this weekend, the Olympic Torch Relay, Hallowe’en parties and tricker treaters, I hope no one forgets something else that is important. This weekend is the official end to daylight savings. Early Sunday morning, at 2AM, be sure to “fall back” all your clocks by one hour. At least some of us might get an extra hour of sleep to recover from all the excitement.

As I write this, the Monday night Council Meeting agenda is up on the City of Langford website and in the Files section in the left sidebar of Inside Langford. Also, the Olympic Flame is about to make its way down Goldstream Ave according to the Times Colonist.

The E&N Rail Trail, a multi-use trail for cyclists, walkers, and similar uses, being built along the current train line that runs up and down the island being Victoria and Parksville, has a section under construction between Jacklin and Selwyn. Construction is expected to occur between October and December, inclusive.

At the recent Parks Open House at Langford City Hall, Langford Councillor Lanny Seaton informed me that Read the rest of this entry »

Monday has two committee meetings on the docket:

- Parks, Recreation, Culture, and Beautification Committee (access the agenda in the left sidebar under file “09-10-26 PRCBC agenda”), which will look at a proposal from Langford Fastball to build a clubhouse at Centennial Park, and

- Planning, Zoning, and Affordable Housing (access the agenda in the left sidebar under file “09-10-26 PZ&A agenda) which will look at rezoning application to rezone 957 Walfred Road from “R2A (One-and Two-Family Residential A to RS3 ( Residential Small Lot 3 ) to Allow for a 9-Lot Development.”

The PRCBC meeting is Monday at 5PM, and the PZ&A meeting is at 7PM. Both will take place in Langford’s Council Chambers on the third floor at City Hall.

The agenda for Monday’s Langford Council meeting has been posted to the Inside Langford Files box (accessible on the left sidebar). As always, if something catches your attention let everyone know with a comment.

Also of interest is an article in today’s Times Colonist (Friday, Oct. 16th) that quotes Langford Mayor Stew Young extensively, and also has snippets from Zoe Blunt of the WTF Langford blog, as well as local developer Frank Bourree.

Finally, there is a supplement coming up in a future issue of the Times Colonist (October 17th is the date the T-C was aiming to publish it, but the final date had not been decided the last I knew) entitled Outlook 2010. It will have content about every area within Greater Victoria, including the Western Communities. The Westshore section will reportedly contain four interviews: one with Mayor Young, one with Zoe Blunt, one with Len Barrie, and one with myself. My interview was done in mid-September.

There are two agendas up for this Tuesday, Administration and Finance at 4:45 PM and Planning, Zoning, and Affordable Housing at 7 PM. The agendas are available at the City of Langford website (where they are generally available only until the day of the meeting), and have also been uploaded to Inside Langford’s “FILES” section on the left sidebar (where they are maintained as a permanent archive).

Notice something interesting in the agendas? Let others know your thoughts in the comments.

Taken from the agenda currently posted on the City of Langford website:

CITY OF LANGFORD
SPECIAL MEETING OF COUNCIL
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 @ 5:00 p.m.
The matters to be dealt with are: Goldstream Avenue Revitalization (Bryn Maur to
VMP)- Award of Construction Contract.

At the August 17 meeting, Council approved staff to design and tender the Goldstream enhancement works for the construction of a roundabout, additional parking, hard landscaping and lighting. The purpose of this report is to seek Council approval for the award of contract for the construction of the civil portion of Goldstream.

COMMENTARY
The tender closed on September 22 and six (6) qualified bids were received, please refer to the list below:
Contractor Tendered Price (with GST)
1/ C-1 Contractors Ltd. $ 623,182.35
2/ Scansa Construction Ltd. $ 638,016.75
3/ Northridge $ 673,575.00
4/ G&E Equipment $ 676,200.00
5/ Excel Contracting $ 677,407.50
6/ Chew Excavating $ 711,900.00
The project is anticipated to start upon Council’s approval and the project will take approximately 11 weeks to complete.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Funding is available in the Road DCC Reserve Fund.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal implications to this project.