Hopefully the view looking Northeast from Skirt Mountain isn’t the shape of things to come on the south slope

Credit: PETE ROCKWELL

Scoping Skirt

Boring public hearing belies controversial Langford development

The March 16 public hearing on a proposed residential development for the south slope of Skirt Mountain must have been tough on acting mayor Denise Blackwell, hampered as she was from “exercising” her middle finger like she did one year ago when activists showed up at a Langford City Council meeting to share their concerns about construction of the Spencer Road Interchange.

Blackwell—sitting in the big chair for absent Mayor Stew Young—and the rest of council were on the best behaviour they could muster for the duration of the second attempt in two weeks to hear public opinion on a 2,800-unit condo and housing project being pitched by a trio of landowners for the hillside adjacent the TransCanada highway that encompasses 211 acres between Goldstream Park and Florence Lake.

The village, to be built over the next 15 to 20 years, has once again exposed the chasm between those who stand to reap the economic spin-off from Langford’s development lust and those loathe to see the region lose any more of its green space and the flora and fauna it supports.

Proceedings of the first public hearing February 23 were scrapped after opponents of the proposed development threatened legal action to overturn any bylaws passed on the basis of information gathered at the meeting, given Young’s, let’s say, prickly, reaction to dissenters in the crowd and comments he made to the media that seemed to indicate his predisposition toward the plan.

By Langford’s normally raucous standards, the second round, procedurally at least, had all the trappings of a legitimate public hearing, with what seemed to be an equal number of speakers taking the microphone on the pro and con sides of the debate, of course not without some measure of scoffs, chatter, and the occasional “Sit down, you . . .” when one of the dissenters ran over her five-minute window.

Those who spoke in favour of the plan—the brainchild of Focus Corporation’s Dale Douglas—cited job creation, growing the municipality’s housing stock and the ominous spectre of what could be built on the hillside under its current zoning. Those on the other side noted the Garry-oak stands and assorted other wildlife that would inevitably fall to the chainsaw, the re-routing of water courses already underway as road construction continues, and first nations cultural sites destined for desecration.

“This is re-configuration of an entire watershed,” noted Trish Glatthaar, speaking of the spring-fed creeks altered by the work on Bear Mountain Parkway and Echo Valley Drive.

It’s difficult to ignore that behind its big-box city facade, an old-boys club sensibility pervades Langford’s much-celebrated progress. This fact was not lost on area resident Beverley Bacon who addressed the crowd on behalf of TLTIL (The Last Tree In Langford) and pointed out that many of the individuals that submitted letters of support for the Skirt Mountain project seem to have something to gain by its construction.

Bacon’s point is well taken, in that a quick breeze through the agenda shows plenty of letters from folks who earn their keep through the building industry, or at the very least keeping that industry supplied—York Excavating, Aggressive Excavating, Victoria Contracting and Municipal Maintenance Contracting, Fountain Tire, two DFH realtors with listings throughout the West Shore, HR Exteriors and Lombard Pre-cast among them.

And while the acrimony that masquerades as dialogue in Langford was shelved for the duration of Monday night’s two- hour hearing, it could still be found in some of the written correspondences related to the development proposal.

In a letter to Langford city hall, project critic Karen Wonders wrote, among other things, that “The City of Langford continues its bankrupt policies of serving big business crooks like Len Barrie while it engages in acts of questionable legality.”

This was met with a return letter from Langford planning boss Matthew Baldwin, who fired back, “The reason for my concern is that I find the inaccuracies and bias in your letter (not to mention vitriol) so incredible that they betray an utter lack of rigor for even the most basic research that would have been necessary to ascertain the facts of this matter, or for that matter the veracity of your source materials.”

“I must inform you that I was tempted to forward your letter to the City’s legal counsel, as I found that the defamatory remarks at the close of your letter border on what might be successfully argued as libelous in a court of law,” Baldwin continued.

And so Langford will continue to steam ahead, with, or without, due consideration of what might be lost in the process.

West Shore Developers Association president Jim Hartshorne seemed downright offended Monday night that any in the crowd should question the motives of developers and the consultants they hire and their committment to fulfilling environmental and social obligations.

And who could question that assessment when we have, topping Skirt Mountain like a crown of fool’s gold, Len Barrie’s golf and luxury-living mecca, which, according to its website, “also works to create and preserve wildlife habitats in and around the golf course. A pond at the course’s 5th hole has been designated as an environmentally sensitive area and is protected for the Red-legged frog, an endangered species.”

With a commitment like that, who could ever doubt the promises made on the slopes of Skirt Mountain? M