Fairway Neighbours Unite! Let's vote in a NEW
City Council who will listen to residents!
the Langford NOW candidates are our chance!
The new slate of council candidates - Langford NOW - is made up of people who care about Langford and want to work with residents to make a liveable Langford.
check out the Langford NOW website: https://www.langfordnow.ca/
Langford NOW Candidates : Our Chance to vote in a new City Council who cares about
Langford's residents!
Now is the time to Vote!!! Use this slate of Langford Now! Candidates to elect a new city council!
Langford NOW Candidate Website https://www.langfordnow.ca/
Read the List of Candidates
Click this link for a printable PDF of all
Langford NOW candidates
Find out about how they want to help Langford be a vibrant community where residents are heard.
View & Print Candidate list
Find out about this slate of five fabulous people who are running for City Council & link to websites to find out more about each candidates platform
click link to print out PDF
WE WON!
Last night at the Public Hearing for 647 Goldstream with City Council’s resolution in place for both buildings to be capped at 6-stories; an entrance/exit to Goldstream Avenue from the project was passed, as well as commitments for sidewalks the length of Fairway. Another resolution was put in place to lesson the impact of traffic on Fairway, mandating that the residents of the 647 development will only have right-hand turn into the development & only left-hand turn out. (In other words, they are to travel down Fairway only until they can turn into the development, and get right onto Goldstream when they leave the development.)
A big shout-out out goes to Councillor Denise Blackwell for adding the resolution to Bylaw 1844 for the exit/entrance added from the development to Goldstream Ave. She would not vote to pass the rezoning bylaw for the 647 Goldstream Ave development without it. Another shout-out goes to Councillor Lillian Szpak for her endorsement of the Goldstream Ave exit/entrance and her desire to see sidewalks running the length of Fairway in both directions from the development to Veteran’s Memorial Park, and east to where Fairway joins Goldstream. We thank them both.
Thank you to all who wrote letters, called in and signed our petitions! Without speaking out in unison to raise your voices against this development, Langford would not have heard. And we are grateful that Langford City Council did listen to what its citizens asked for, and did the right thing...
Send a letter to Denise Blackwell, Councillor; or phone: 250-478-6169
Send a letter to Matt Sahlstrom, Councillor; or phone: 250-478-6846
Send a letter to Lanny Seaton, Councillor; or phone: 250-478-3357
Send a letter to Roger Wade, Councillor; or phone: 250-857-037
Send a letter to Norma Stewart, Councillor; or phone: 250-857-0114
Send a letter to Lillian Szpak, Councillor; or phone:
250-391-0579
Send a letter to Stew Young, Mayor; or phone:
250-478-7882
Contact Information:
[email protected]
City of Langford City Hall
(250) 478-7882
Focus Magazine coverage & updates
https://www.focusonvictoria.ca/controversial-developments/12/
Controversial Developments
The Goldstream/Fairway proposal and similar developments moving into what have been single-family neighbourhoods are causing more dissent than Langford council has witnessed in the past, including around wider issues such as lack of transparency and timely information. Langford, for instance, still does not livestream council meetings or make the video available to the public, despite receiving a $4.8-million COVID-19 Safe Restart Grant from the Province. It does do audio recordings which the Fairfield neighbourhood says are poor quality.
What is really going on here?
What makes developers in Langford so confident that they would embark on the expensive moving of houses, prior to their official zoning-change application being approved by City Hall?
1.) Does Design Build Services even have the proper permits to move these houses on Fairway Ave?
2.) Why does the City Council not listen to the Residents who are begging the apartment complex to lower their building on Fairway to 4 stories, so that we may have a chance for our neighbourhood to survive?
3.) Why has an official architect not been appointed to this project yet? Especially in light of the Danbrook One debacle & the fact that the Architectural Institute of British Columbia has taken Langford to court about this necessity of using architects - and Langford was ruled against in this case, and architects were deemed essential?
4.) These are the questions we have for City Hall: What is going on, and why does it appear that proper democratic process & procedure are not being adhered to?
FOCUS magazine article by Judith Lavoie
"Strains over growth and transparency in Langford" covering much of the behind the scenes information with refreshing detail.
"More Langford citizens are expressing resentment over City Hall’s modus operandi."
The developer, Greater Victoria Property Group, have contracted Design Build Services who built the infamous Danbrook One property. Danbrook One is an 11-storey high-rise that had its occupancy permit revoked, months after residents moved in, because it was deemed unsafe due to the way it was built. It remains empty today.
Design Build Services is seeking to change the existing zoning of 647 Goldstream Ave. (5 amalgamated city lots) from single family dwellings to a combined Multi-story Commercial Zoning.
PUBLIC HEARING SET FOR MARCH 15TH, 5:30 PM teleconferencing with Langford City Council.
AFTER PUBLIC HEARING, CITIZENS HAVE NO OTHER
opportunities or rights to express our opinions. SPEAK NOW! and continue to write letters to City Hall.
Write to Council (direct link emails provided below) to demand video live-streaming of Council Meetings, demand that zoning requirements stay within the existing roof line of 4 stories. Comment on too high-density, resulting traffic issues and threat to pedestrian safety, among other things...
Our neighbours gathered together to show their support for Fairway Avenue and to demonstrate to City Council and Langford’s Planning & Zoning Department, that Fairway is too narrow a street to support the traffic that the proposed development of Twin 12-Storey, 240 unit apartment towers would generate.
There are no sidewalks or shoulders on Fairway, and additional traffic would threaten the safety of the pedestrians who constantly use Fairway for their walks to Veterans Memorial Park at the end of our street.
Nothing But Questions & No Answers
Fairway Neighbours Unite asks this: Why does Langford never respond to any of our letters and questions with anything other than form letters? Neighbours continue to ask why Langford still does not do video live-streaming of its Council meetings as other municipalities do?
In the August 14th issue of the Goldstream Gazette Lillian Szpak stated that Langford Council would discuss live-steaming its meetings in September – yet citizens are still denied this option.
Write to City Council to demand Live-Streaming Council meetings!
Fairway Neighbours Unite wants answers, and is tired of a city government that ignores its citizen’s requests. Why is Langford hiding this enormous potential development from public scrutiny? Fairway Neighbours Unite for a Livable Langford wants to know.
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Developer Meeting in the Rain
We United! A solid 50 people showed up (all social-distancing & wearing masks) for the presentation by the developer. It was most disappointing, as they answered every question that we asked with a “we will get back to you on that”.
It was obviously a one-off meeting, with the neighbours asking questions and the developer’s representatives being evasive.
Many people offered to set up a committee, so that we could continue to dialogue with the developer about our neighbourhood concerns. This will not happen.
They would not even tell us the name of the developer, explaining that Design Build Services is simply the hired contractor. But we know, from previous research, that the actual developers are Cheri Crause and Rick Hoogendoorn of the Greater Victoria Property Group (https://greatervictoriapropertygroup.com/).
The proposed development has now grown in size to TWO 12-storey buildings with 240 apartment units. Again, the representatives leading the meeting were evasive about answering any specific questions. They said that it will now be planned as a 55+ Seniors apartment building.
There is no green space shown in the plans we were able to view, not even the allocated 5% as required by the City of Langford.
Instead of answers, we are only left with more questions and a complete lack of transparency. Langford can do better that this! Concerned residents stood outside in the rain for two hours, waiting patiently for answers – only to be disappointed.
We need to take our efforts to a higher level. It is time to reach out to the media in every way we can - write letters to the editor of our newspapers: Goldstream Gazette: Letter to the Editor [email protected] ; Times Colonist Letter to the Editor [email protected] about this proposed development, the lack of transparency, and the how all information regarding this project being hidden from the public.
We, the friends and neighbours of Goldstream and Fairway Avenues, want Langford to regulate the proposed plans from the developer of the building that was declared uninhabitable (Design Build Services) to a scale that fits within our existing structure heights.
We also want Langford to regulate Neighbourhood Zones in our city to enable them to remain true neighbourhoods for the citizens of Langford.
We stand against the Twin 11-Storey Towers, 224 unit, Apartment proposed development at 647 Goldstream Ave. These 5 amalgamated properties are in the 600 Block of both Goldstream and Fairway Avenues.