Inside Langford

Planning & Zoning Committee meeting of Mon. Aug. 10th

Agenda item #1 Application for an Industrial Temporary Use Permit to Crush Gravel and Sell Gravel from 923, 927 and 931 Walfred Road.

Committee member Steve Harvey repeatedly expressed that he felt it was inappropriate to have rock crushing in a residential area and wondered why the crushing was even necessary as he thought blasting ususally did the job. Committee member Norma Stewart mentioned sleepless expectant and new mothers and the fact windows are more often open in the summer months and the neighbourhood’s need to not have constant and loud noise. Committee member Malcolm Hall spoke about the ongoing noise he has from living next to West Hills – which he called the biggest quarry operation in Langford. Malcolm cited not having to set his alarm clock in the last 2 1/2 years, even on weekends, indicating service vehicles beeping while in reverse often starting at 6AM. Malcolm suggested adding stipulations to this temp. permit around hours of operation for the gravel business, 7AM – 6PM M-F, 8AM – 4PM Sat, and not on Sundays. Councillor Denise Blackwell added not on statutory holidays. Council Lillian Szpak wondered if this was already covered under Langford’s noise bylaws, however Malcolm suggested Langford’s noise bylaws are dawn to dusk and in the summer that could be 6AM to 11PM and this was not refuted. Malcolm also suggested adding dust control stipulations and not just a dust study by mandating the use of a watering truck or not operating in dry, and windy conditions. Steve Harvey continued to express concern about crushing rock on residential property. The proponent of the application explained there is so much rock on the property it needs to be removed, and to be saleable it needs to be crushed. City Planner, Matthew Baldwin, at Councillor Szpak’s prompting, clarified – that the application for the temp. industrial permit was for sale of gravel, and that the crushing was already allowed under another permit. Councillor Szpak pointed out the title on the agenda item might be misleading There were no comments from members of the audience. The committee forwarded the recommendation to grant the temp industrial permit for 36 months with the suggested stipulations. Only (I believe) Steve Harvey voted in opposition.

Agenda item #2: Application for a Commercial Temporary Use Permit to Operate a School at 721 Station Avenue.

There was no discussion on this topic, just agreement between city staff, the proponent, and committee members that council should change the current commercial zoning to allow a small school use, as has already been done with another similar commercial zoning designation, so that in the future the temp. permit would not be required.

Upon exiting the meeting we all realized the doors to City Hall had remained locked. There have been on-going sporadic issues with the electronic timed front door lock. It sometimes fails and keeps the front door of City Hall locked, often when meetings are held outside the regular schedule. At this meeting some people did use the front door doorbell near the beginning of the meeting and were let in. One committee member, after the meeting, did wonder aloud if the locked doors deterred anyone from attending this meeting.