Tonight, from 7-9PM at the Grand Pacific Hotel, is a free event entitled “From Paralysis to Action”. The goal of the event, and of the Saanich Civic League that is sponsoring it, is to increase public awarenes, interest, and participation in local governance. The Civic League concept was pioneered in Guelph and succeeded in increasing the voter turnout in the municipal elections in that city, so this is of interest to Langford residents concerned about public participation in local democracy. The entire press release is available here.

- Steven Hurdle -

Surprising some observers, including one who noted that Len Barrie and the other owners are “not exactly flush with disposable cash,“, it is being reported that the NHL governors have approved the sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning to an ownership group that includes local developer Len Barrie as a junior partner.

If reports are accurate, there is an interesting parallel between Barrie’s involvement with the hockey team purchase and his Bear Mountain Resort’s involvement with the construction of the Spencer Road Interchange: in both cases Read the rest of this entry »

Langford’s website has a PDF of the proposed changes to the Station Ave/Peatt Road Intersection. The proposal, in brief, is to open it up a new corridor between Westshore Town Centre (CanWest Mall) and Goldstream Ave, and move the bus exchange from the mall to Station Ave. Also, it notes how it’ll link up with the new E&N Rail Trail.

The location of the new bus depot will work well with commuter rail, if we ever get that going. Possibly controversial though is that pedestrians and cyclists on the Rail Trail will have to cross four crosswalks to cross the street at Peatt Road. It will be interesting to see if pedestrians and cyclists will follow the suggest routing and use all four crosswalks to cross the street, or whether they’ll jaywalk across Peatt instead (which could get more problematic as the traffic increases on Peatt with the new alignment).

- Steven Hurdle -

March was a busy month for Inside Langford posts. Here is the final summary of prominent posts from last month. Previous summaries are available at the end of this article.

In late March, word broke that work was proceeding at the interchange site despite the lack of final approval from all levels of the province.
Is this another “i” not dotted, or is this a “t” not crossed?

An letter to the editor of Focus magazine provided some insight into a different way of thinking on many of the issues Inside Langford has been covering.
There are those that believe the ends justify the means…

Some of the most-read articles ever on Inside Langford were the article on Len Barrie’s rise in the development community, “The Bull and the Bear”, and some follow-up articles taking a deeper look into the article.
THE BULL AND THE BEAR

Finally, we took a closer look at the decision by a local resident to request his property assessment be reduced due to a conflict with a mixed-use residential/commercial business in his neighbourhood.
Can cost us all

- Steven Hurdle -

Previous summaries:
January
February part 1
February part 2
March part 1
March part 2
March part 3
March part 4
March part 5

The agenda for the forthcoming Langford Council meeting has Bylaws 1200 and 1201 going ahead to adoption, despite the legal quagmire surrounding the public hearing.

As Inside Langford reported after the meeting, there were many problems associated with the meeting. Another citizen contributed additional concerns about the ability of the public to hear and contribute during the public hearing. These problems are not mere procedural issues, but inherent problems such as the fact that not everyone who showed up to participate in the public hearing could even fit in the room, let alone hear and participate. Normally that would mean that it would be adjourned to another day and time once a larger venue had been procured, so that everyone in the community who wanted to participate could do so. This fact was pointed out during the meeting, but the public hearing was allowed to go ahead by Deputy Mayor Blackwell despite the fact that not everyone there could meaningfully participate.

Since public hearings are considered quasi-judicial in nature, they are held to a much higher standard Read the rest of this entry »

In February of this year, six tree-sitters were dislodged from the interchange site via a sizable police action that reportedly involved RCMP from as far away as the Fraser Valley. Inside Langford has learned that the Crown Council Policy Manual, which guides prosecutors not only in what is legal but what the Province may choose to prosecute, only recommends going ahead with charges against civil disobedience protesters in situations when Read the rest of this entry »

When the City of Langford purchased many of the properties on Leigh Road between Goldstream Ave and the highway to start the process of building the Spencer Road Interchange, it was understood from the beginning that they may not need all of the properties. Some of the people did not want to sell, and asked to be given the chance to buy their house back should the land not be needed once the final road alignment was settled upon.

Inside Langford has been contacted by a lawyer regarding one of these former property owners. The lawyer has informed us that the former property owner has indeed been offered to buy their former home back, but with a catch: the houses are reportedly being sold in lots of four, which would mean that if any of the previous residents wants to continue to live in their old neighbourhood they have to buy their home and three of their former neighbours. Four lots puts the total cost in excess of $1.5 million dollars, Read the rest of this entry »

The Langford Coalition site has added a number of resources for those interested in the proposed removals of land from the ALR in south Langford. The deadline for comment is this Friday, June 13, 2008.

Here are a series of maps of the area, past and present.

The Coalition released Read the rest of this entry »

Just a reminder that there are two meetings tonight:

Tonight’s Planning and Zoning Committee meeting at City Hall at 7 PM will have a presentation on food security that sounds like it will be very interesting, not to mention quite timely given recent talk about ALR exclusions.

Langford’s Emeregency Social Services (ESS) team is hosting an emergency preparedness session, also at 7 PM, at Fire Hall #1. It will go over such things as how to make a “grab and go” bag and other things about emergency preparedness. If you’re interested in volunteering for the ESS team, a short general meeting for volunteers will follow.

- Steven Hurdle -

The Langford Coalition today held an info table at today’s Luxton Market, regarding the proposed ALR exclusions along Happy Valley Road. Information on the event, and an electronic version of the handout that was passed out, are available here.

- Steven Hurdle -