**Update: The second half of the agenda is now up, thank you to whomever at our City Hall burned the weekend oil.**

Half of the agenda is up on Langford’s website for Monday night’s Council meeting, but the second half is not yet in evidence and with the weekend it is unclear whether it will be corrected before Monday (the day of the meeting). Agendas tend to “save the best for last”, as the first portion of the meeting is taken up by accepting of minutes, receiving reports, and the like, so the second half of the agenda tends to typically be both more interesting and more important, and this one looks like it won’t be an exception.

The first file is 113 pages long and includes Read the rest of this entry »

When discussing the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) in Langford, things generally don’t go far before the Brian French Report on the ALR land in South Langford gets mentioned.

The link to Brian French’s report in the Reports section of the City of Langford website appears to now be defunct (it’s about halfway down and entitled “Agricultural Suitability Review for South Langford”). In response to several requests for the report, Inside Langford is now hosting it and those who wish to read it can do so here.

The report assesses the viability of the ALR land for agriculture in South Langford, and suggests what Brian French believes ought to stay in the ALR, and what he feels could be removed for development or other purposes. When reading staff reports on ALR removals you will often see references to whether the Brian French Report suggests it stay in or come out. Mr. French is also on Langford’s Agricultural Advisory Committee that is tasked with guiding the several proposed removals (called “exclusions”) from the ALR that are under way.

Though you may or may not agree with his conclusions, for anyone interested in agricultural land in our community it’s recommended reading.

On Monday, January 26, the city Planning and Zoning Committee will discuss the application to rezone 211 acres as a new Comprehensive Development Zone to allow for the development of a new Comprehensive Mixed-Use Development. Developers are planning 2819 residential units (mostly apartments and condos) on the 84-acre site straddling the Bear Mountain Parkway over the next fifteen years. The development spans the steep and rugged south slope of Skirt Mountain from Florence Lake west to Goldstream Provincial Park, and from Highway 1 all the way up to Bear Mountain Resort on top of the mountain.

The P&Z Committee meeting begins Monday, Jan. 26 at 7 pm in Langford Council chambers, 3rd floor, 877 Goldstream Ave.

South Skirt Mountain Open House Invitation has a good aerial view map

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3509/3198142236_da69e8a4da_o.jpg

The City of Langford has a Development Concept Plan for South Skirt Mountain map: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3529/3197983623_8a6a956bce_b.jpg There are no designated forests, parks, or green space on the map, just undefind “open space” seeming to mean no buildings but does not define what is in the open space. There is no karst (the soluble and fragile limestone rock famous for cave formations) indicated on the map, however it is well documented in the areas to the south, east, and north of the new development zone. Spaet Cave lies only a few meters north of the new development boundary, while Florence Lake Cave is less than a hundred meters to the east, and Langford Lake Cave a few hundred meters to the south.

Quickly after the Jan. 26th P&Z Committee meeting the City of Langford Council reportedly is holding the public hearing on the South Skirt Mountain Village application Monday, February 2 7PM at the beginning of the Council Meeting.

Concerns citizens can let council know what they think at the planning meeting January 26 or the public hearing February 2 (both at 7 pm at Langford City Hall.) Even better, they can send their input on email or by phone.

Send feedback to:
dplouffe@cityoflangford.ca
Phone: (250) 474-6919
Fax: (250) 391-3436
Website: http://www.cityoflangford.ca/departments.asp?Dept=Planning%20and%20Zoning

The City of Langford has announced several road closures and traffic delays:

The RCMP are getting fibre optic cable put across Veteran’s Memorial to their facility on Atkins, and as such the 6 lanes of Veteran’s Memorial will be single-lane traffic from 10PM to 5AM Jan. 26th-28th.

Victoria Contracting and Municipal Maintenance will be excavating on Happy Valley Road at the Galloping Goose Trail for the addition of a new flashing pedestrian crosswalk. The work will begin on Wednesday, Jan 21 at 8:30am. Langford’s website notes that “Terasen Gas will also be present due to the close proximity of the high pressure gas main servicing Sooke. Certified traffic controllers will be onsite and traffic interruption will be kept to a minimum.”

The Trans Canada Highway, from Spencer Road To Goldstream, will be closed in both directions due to the construction of the “Spencer Road Underpass”, from January 29th at 9:00 pm thru to January 30th at 5:30 am, and February 5th at 9:00 pm thru to February 6th at 5:30 am. Langford’s website explains that “during these periods, all traffic will be detoured onto Spencer Road and Goldstream Avenue. All commercial truck traffic is required to use Veterans Memorial Parkway and Goldstream Avenue.” They provide a map for anyone needing further clarification of the detours, and contact info for those with additional questions.

Avalanch Excavating will be commencing work on storm drains, crossing Jacklin Road, south of the intersection with Langford Parkway on Wednesday, January 21, 2009. Traffic will periodically be reduced to one lane, Langford’s web site notes. Work is scheduled to be completed by Friday, January 30th, 2009. Langford’s website adds “Motorists please be aware.”

There’s an update to the Station Avenue / Peatt Road closure. Originally intended to be complete late last year, it’s now slated for completion by the end of March 2009. “Station Avenue will remain closed to through traffic at the intersection of Phipps Road and Meaford Avenue and will remain closed for the duration of the project.”

A final reminder on Langford’s website, worth re-iterating since (as of this writing) there’s the possibility of snow in the Westshore 14-day weather forecast, “During heavy snow fall and storm events, the Trolley may be taken out of service without any prior notice. In such a case, service will resume once the roads have been cleared and allow for the service to continue.”

Inside Langford has had requests for making available information on the proposed Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) removals in South Langford. This information was provided by Langford City Hall, and is an improved version of the staff report previously made available (the included maps are now in colour and are far more readable than the ones scanned in black and white that were previously included in the document). Some of these are large files and, depending on your internet connection, may take a while to download.

Here is an overview of the applications:

aac-rpt-3-filesa-5jan09

And here are the three specific applications:

aac-rpt-alr-08-01-5jan09

aac-rpt-alr-08-02-5jan09

aac-rpt-alr-06-03-5jan09

A proposal to eliminate building permit costs (at a cost estimated to be $600K-700K to municipal revenue) will be among the many things discussed during a heavy Monday night Council meeting agenda at Langford City Hall. It has been reported that the City of Langford is looking at economic stimulus measures that might cost as much as $2.5 million all told. The idea of reducing/eliminating building permit costs was first floated by developer Jim Hartshorne who noted last November he felt that would be welcome in light of the current economic climate.

Other proposals to be discussed is putting a new Tourist Information Centre at 2894 Amy Road that would service people coming off the Malahat, several Spencer Road Interchange-related items (staff reports on a Savory Road retaining wall, Design Contract for Spencer Interchange South Ramps, and “Spencer Road Interchange Variance Request to Truck Route and Noise Bylaws”).

The agenda is available on the City of Langford website in it’s broad-stokes “Agenda Page only” version, in a full-meal deal version with all 372 pages of the agenda package, and in the agenda package broken down into three chunks for those who can’t handle large file sizes.

Tomorrow’s Planning and Zoning has two proposals for density increases in the Happy Valley area. The owners of 894 Walfred Road are asked to be rezoned from “Greenbelt Residential 2″ zoning to allow a 9 unit subdivision, and 3458 Happy Valley is looking to be rezoned to from Agricultural 1 to a new zoning that would allow a six-lot residential subdivision and a 9-unit townhouse project.

Here is the wording of the two proposals, from tomorrow’s agenda:

Read the rest of this entry »

TSN, Canada’s oldest television sports network, is reporting that Len Barrie has sold the Bear Mountain Resort for $500 million to Dubai real estate interests. The deal is reportedly closing in February. This reported sale follows repeated public denials in recent months from Len Barrie that the resort was even up for sale, let alone sold. Bear Mountain representatives have had no public comment as of yet.

Just a reminder to everyone, this Saturday, the 2nd Saturday of the month, is the Westshore Community Recycling Depot for plastics, styrofoam, tetra litres, milk cartons and many other “beyond blue box” recyclables. Read the rest of this entry »

The properties under consideration by the Langford Agricultural Advisory Committee (who is on the Committee is not listed on the Langford website under 2008 Council Committee Appointments) meeting this Monday Jan. 5th at 5:30PM are:

3660 Happy Valley Road for removal from the Agriculture Land Reserve

3622 Happy Valley Road for removal from the Agriculture Land Reserve

3634 Happy Valley Road for removal from the Agriculture Land Reserve

3569, 3577, 3579 Happy Valley Road and 935 Latoria Road for removal from the Agriculture Land Reserve

Langford Staff Report suggests one option that would not be total removal of the 4 grouped properties: Read the rest of this entry »