By Richard Watts, Victoria Times Colonist
Langford councillors took a big step toward final approval of an enormous new development Monday night following a hearing in which Mayor Stew Young berated citizens who raised objections.
It was a special meeting of Langford council to conduct a public hearing on a new comprehensive zoning for Skirt Mountain. The zoning would provide developers with the freedom to create a massive development of 2,800 living units on the slopes, east and adjacent to Goldstream Park.
A final vote will take place at a later date.
But Monday night when citizens took the microphone, gave their names and addresses and voiced their concerns, Young was usually there to take issue.
He told citizens who live on Florence Lake and expressed fears of runoff water fouling the lake that their own homes should not have been built on the shoreline. One man was told his own neighbourhood was blasted out with none of the environmental safeguards now employed.
Another woman was called out for not being from Langford. She lives in Victoria.
Young complained, several times, of the same citizens raising the same objections “time after time.”
People should know how hard he, his council and Langford staffers all work on behalf of the community, he said. They should look at what has been accomplished in the past 15 years.
Herman Surkis shot back at Young, “If council keeps hearing the same complaints from the same people over and over again, maybe that’s because council keeps doing the same thing over and over again.”
The only speaker who rose to object but got a respectful and silent hearing from Young was Joni Olsen, who identified herself as being a member of the Tsartlip First Nation.
Olsen said the development is likely to dig up graves of her ancestors. She also felt the development could interrupt the natural return of previously disturbed ecosystems.
“That’s 8,000 years of history that you guys are going to build up. That’s appalling,” Olsen said. Young had no comment, complaint or criticism.
About 20 people rose to speak, with slightly more opposed than in favour. Supporters received none of Young’s criticism.
The project calls for more than 2,800 new homes of various types, from condominiums to single-family houses. These will be placed within a community to include other amenities, like schools, churches, recreation sites and commercial buildings.
The developers say the comprehensive zoning for the site will allow them to cluster the buildings tightly in sites most appropriate for building.
In return, they have promised about $25 million for amenities, like road improvements, parks and infrastructure.
Their plan promises to cover only about 60 per cent of the 84-hectare site. The remainder will be left as open community space, natural woods, a wetland — with a surrounding boardwalk — and natural views.
The developers are the owners of three separate land parcels who have joined for the project: Totangi Properties Ltd., owned by Blair and Warren Robertson; Skirt Mountain Village Ltd. owned by Ron Coutre and Russell Trace; and Bear Mountain Estates Ltd. — no connection to the existing Bear Mountain development — owned by the Marquardt family.
The land is now zoned for about 1,000 homes of various types, including mobile homes, spread throughout the entire 84 hectares of the site.
Mike Wignall reminded councillors what the site might look like if developed under existing zoning and spoke in favour.
“All in all, I think it’s fantastic and let’s keep in going forward,” Wignall said
Filed under: Save Spaet Mountain, forests, local
