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The ‘Spencer Road Interchange’ highway project was formerly referred to as “Bear Mountain Interchange” at the initial open house. According to the City of Langford’s maps, the interchange will be located north of Spencer Road, connecting the existing Leigh Road (a small residential road that ends at the forest and wetlands located between the Island Highway and Leigh Road) and the proposed ‘Bear Mountain Parkway’ (some clearing for that highway has already taken place, as seen in Google Earth).

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Langford’s Bear Mountain Interchange: Urbanization on the Western Frontier and the Blurring of Public and Private Interests
By Ben Isitt

This report is an in-depth examination of actions taken by municipal and provincial leaders and public servants leading up to the decision by Langford city council to go ahead with the $30 million Spencer Road Interchange highway project, formerly referred to as “Bear Mountain Interchange” at the initial public hearing. It is designed to connect to the proposed ‘parkway’ on the west side of Spaet Mountain (renamed ‘Bear Mountain’ by the Bear Mountain developers).The report was completed in December 2007 and examines concerns about the process government has taken with moving this interchange forward.

Download the Report

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For more information on the “Spencer Road Interchange”, visit the following sites:

LangfordProtest.org
A site collecting information on the Spencer Road Interchange from many different angles (political process, civil liberties, et al).
www.langfordprotest.org

City of Langford
Spencer Road Interchange: Review reports and plans for the new interchange planned on the Trans Canada Highway. (Note that as of the date of this posting, there is no information regarding Bylaw# 1148: Loan Authorization Bylaw or the minutes from the Dec 27th, 2007 meeting of council.)
www.cityoflangford.ca

Bear Mountain Tree Sit
A site dedicated to stopping the Bear Mountain Interchange.
treesit.blogspot.com

Spencer’s Pond
A site all about Spencer’s Pond and the possible impact of the Bear Mountain Interchange
spencerspond.ca

Comments:

Heather Scott // January 13, 2008 at 8:34 am (edit)
Glad to see you guys are showing both sides of the story with links to Langford’s website (in favour of the project) and info against it. Where can I get the minutes of the December 27th meeting if they aren’t on the Langford site?

Zoe Blunt // January 14, 2008 at 6:36 am (edit)
I downloaded the bylaws before they were deleted from Langford’s website. They can be viewed as a Flickr photo set here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86691173@N00/sets/72157603667232415/

Click on each picture, then click on “all sizes” magnifying glass icon to view full-size.

Ian Dakers // March 2, 2008 at 6:35 pm (edit)
Here is a site for people to build a grassroots Web-TV & communication forum to discuss this and other issues that concern the citizens of Langford:

http://www.langfordcommons.ning.com

Some old news just won’t go away! The following is a Press Release published by Simon Fraser University in June 24, 1998

Municipal governance in B.C. is nearing an accountability crisis,  requiring both electoral and non-electoral changes, according to a new study.

In a sweeping report on the state of municipal accountability and democracy in B.C., researchers in Simon Fraser University’s Institute of Governance Studies conclude that citizens are losing or have lost control of their mayors and councils in B.C.’s larger municipalities. The problem is not apparent in the majority of smaller municipalities. Read the rest of this entry »