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Leigh Road Interchange and Bear Mountain Parkway


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#61 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 13 February 2008 - 05:06 PM

Seems like a lot of police.


I'm not sure how they would get that many.

#62 gumgum

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Posted 13 February 2008 - 06:17 PM

Looks like Victoria counselors will be taking over the protesters' job:

Victoria seeks answers on Spencer Rd. interchange
By Keith Vass - Victoria News - February 13, 2008


Victoria city councillors have asked for a legal opinion on the process Langford used to secure a $25-million loan to build the Spencer Road interchange.

The move came at the request of Coun. Sonya Chandler. She asked council to write to B.C.’s Inspector of Municipalities to ask if Langford council’s decision to designate the intersection site a local service area and assign the cost to the developers of the Bear Mountain condo, golf club and resort complex, is following the letter of the law.

Langford will borrow the money from the province and will be paid back over 10 years by a group of stakeholders, including Bear Mountain Master Partnership (LGB9), Totangi Forestry, Goldstream Heights, Clara Kramer and Bear Mountain Parkway Estates.

Langford is waiting for the Inspector of Municipalities’ approval of the loan before giving final reading to the borrowing bylaw.

But opponents of the project argue the local service area designation is being used to bypass a petition and referendum process that would be required if the interchange were built as a municipal capital project.

“There is some risk of precedent setting and at what point does a local service justify major borrowing and under what conditions?,” Chandler said Friday. “And if it goes through, does it actually encourage municipalities or local councils to use this as a means to circumventing the counter-petition or referendum process?”

Other councillors seized on Chandler’s request to voice their own concerns about the interchange.

“There has been ample work done on transportation forecasting that indicate pretty clearly simply building more highways is not going to solve the problem,” said Coun. Geoff Young.

“We could draw that to the attention of the minister and simply say we wrote to you and you didn’t do it, so we’re going to give you our opinion anyway that we don’t think that building new interchanges is the best long-term solution to transportation issues here.”

Coun. Pamela Madoff said it would help to understand more about the use of local service area designations. If a problem with the Langford process is discovered, it could then be taken for provincial mediation.

After city manager Penny Ballantyne suggested contacting Langford’s staff to glean their legal understanding of the law around local service area designations would be an appropriate first step, council agreed to hold of on writing the Inspector of Municipalities.

Instead, Ballantyne will discuss the designation process with Langford. Victoria will also get a report from its own legal counsel.

Mayor Alan Lowe excused himself from the discussion. He’s already declared he would be in a conflict of interest if he participated in any decisions related to Bear Mountain because he has done architectural work on the project.

kvass@vicnews.com



#63 Jonny Quest

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Posted 14 February 2008 - 01:09 PM

Victoria city councillors have asked for a legal opinion on the process Langford used to secure a $25-million loan to build the Spencer Road interchange.

The move came at the request of Coun. Sonya Chandler. She asked council to write to B.C.’s Inspector of Municipalities to ask if Langford council’s decision to designate the intersection site a local service area and assign the cost to the developers of the Bear Mountain condo, golf club and resort complex, is following the letter of the law.


I've never heard of one municipality becoming a nosey parker and meddling into the affairs of another municipality.

“There has been ample work done on transportation forecasting that indicate pretty clearly simply building more highways is not going to solve the problem,” said Coun. Geoff Young.


Sheesh, this is about improving an existing highway in terms of capacity, safety, and reliability.

No wonder nothin' ever gets done in Greater Victoria or that they receive only modest funding for infrastructure. Nobody seems to agree on anything.

Most municipalities in Metro Vancouver would not take take that position.

And then we've got Kelowna, which unlike Greater Victoria, is taking the bull by the horns by planning and implementing it's own Multi-Modal Corridor, which will include a combined eventual free-flow highway bypass away from the downtown core, rapid transit corridor, and walking/cycling trail all in one.

Kudos to them.

http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page432.aspx

#64 Mike K.

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Posted 14 February 2008 - 01:28 PM

C. Chandler had how many years to act?

This smells of an attention grabbing scheme on the eve of construction.

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#65 Birk

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Posted 14 February 2008 - 04:27 PM

There is now a song about Langford here. It is called "Lovely Langford" and is free to distribute and play. - It is an mp3 -
(If it downloads as a php just change the suffix to mp3) -

http://download.yous...60CE8CD100E437C

#66 G-Man

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Posted 14 February 2008 - 05:23 PM

Weird. Are there any songs about Colwood?

#67 Mike K.

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Posted 14 February 2008 - 06:08 PM

Nothing will ever beat The Q's Langford Man.

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#68 Birk

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Posted 14 February 2008 - 07:35 PM

Mike, Langford man rocked but wasn't original. G-man - I don't know of any Colwood songs, yet.

#69 Fergus

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Posted 15 February 2008 - 03:01 AM

I find it remarkable that the RCMP felt it needed dozens of heavily armed officers, apparently including some from as far away as Vancouver, in order to evict a half-dozen protesters who, to my knowledge, have not been violent. It seems to me as though there's a pattern of militancy from the RCMP and other police departments in recent years, and it's a worrying sign. I'm sure they could have been just as effective with half as many officers on site as they seem to feel they needed.

According to a recent article in the Globe and Mail, opponents of the interchange presented council with a 2,300 name petition opposing the $25 million borrowing plan. The timing of this move to clear-cut the ecosystem seems suspicious; perhaps it's aimed at weakening the environmentalists in the coalition of interests opposed to the interchange. While the ecosystem isn't the only issue that has motivated the opposition, it is surely the main issue for some opposed.

I hope, and expect, the opposition will continue. It seems to me that any time a municipality looks to borrow such an enormous sum of money, there is likely to be consequences across the board. What happens if Langford wants to make some other improvement using debt financing? Will it be able to? There's a limit to how much a municipality can borrow, and Langford is trying to move forward a bylaw that is going to tie up a lot, perhaps all, of that financing room. Given the financial implications of this decision, it definitely seems wrong and quite questionable that the citizens aren't being given an opportunity to vote on the matter. Since most of the opposition going forward is likely to focus on process questions, a successful referendum would be a major hurdle crossed for proponents of the interchange. Just have the referendum and get this answered one way or another.

I also agree with posters who are surprised by Victoria council's rumblings on the issue. It certainly seems strange that one municipality seems willing to consider protesting the actions of another when those don't have a direct impact on it. But it comes back to the process and the lack of democracy and transparency in Langford council's approach to this. These aren't the sort of qualities we would like to see and encourage in other municipalities. In fact, if the approach Langford council is taking is legal, it suggests the need for an amendment to the municipal act -- and that's reason enough for it to be of interest to all BC's councils. If we allow democracy to fail in Langford, it cheapens it for all of us.

As for the comment that Chandler has had years to comment on this and is just show-boating, my understanding is that Chandler didn't know about this issue until recently. I find that unsurprising since neither did I.

#70 G-Man

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Posted 15 February 2008 - 07:36 AM

^ And the need for greater regional political cohesion.

#71 amor de cosmos

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Posted 15 February 2008 - 08:28 AM

Construction crews take over at site of interchange protest

Work startup snarls traffic as those opposed to project continue their vigil

Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist; With a file from Judith Lavoie
Published: Friday, February 15, 2008

In an ironic twist, it was construction of the Bear Mountain interchange, not protesters, that brought traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway to a grinding halt during yesterday's evening rush hour.

"I think it just got backed up earlier in the day with the construction and never got sorted out," said one of the half-dozen RCMP officers watching as about 70 people demonstrated beside the highway against the interchange.

Construction crews moved in with full force after a predawn police raid Wednesday of a protest camp in the woods between the Trans-Canada Highway and Leigh Road in Langford.

"They have probably felled five acres in the last 30 hours. The construction is really clogging up the traffic," said Ben Isitt, an organizer of yesterday evening's demonstration, which brought out local residents, toting kids and dogs, as well as those who had taken part in the tree-sit protest on Wednesday.

"The interchange is a big problem. It's totally unsustainable, and it's going to make the traffic worse, not better," said Eleanor McKinnon, who has lived on Savory Road for 20 years.

Bob Fox of Goldstream Avenue was infuriated to be stopped by RCMP and asked for identification Wednesday as he walked the route he has taken for 30 years.

"I felt intimidated. I don't have any ID," he said.

<snip>

http://www.canada.co...c7-93eca89a008a

#72 Fergus

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Posted 15 February 2008 - 08:38 AM

^ And the need for greater regional political cohesion.


Good point, G-Man. Greater Victoria is one of the most governed jurisdictions in the world. What is it, a dozen or more mayors and councils? It leads to petty fights and a lot of duplication across the region. There would be big questions to settle in an amalgamation process, but I think it would be a worthwhile discussion to have.

#73 ressen

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 08:56 AM






the blue tarps is where the protesters were.






there were 3 cop cars and a van at Savory Rd and 3 at Goldstream at TCH.



it sure didnt take them long to clear out the trees

#74 gumgum

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 09:26 AM

Thanks for the pics, ressen.

#75 Mike K.

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 09:43 AM

As for the comment that Chandler has had years to comment on this and is just show-boating, my understanding is that Chandler didn't know about this issue until recently. I find that unsurprising since neither did I.


If that's the case, that shows just how in tune she is with her community. Her party leader (C. Chandler is a Green Party member) participated in a well-publicized protest in downtown Victoria in November of 07 so one would expect a reasonable amount of information about the leader's involvement finding its way back to party members and especially those in publicly elected positions, no?

Most everyone and their cousin who paid any attention to local news, as one would think a local councillor should, knew about this and has been aware of the Langford interchange protests to some degree. C. Chandler now claiming she has been completely oblivious to the project, in light of years of discussion, on-going protests and her own party's involvement, seems very unlikely.

It seems to me that any time a municipality looks to borrow such an enormous sum of money, there is likely to be consequences across the board.

I'm pretty sure Langford's taxpayers are not on the hook for paying back the money as the costs are shared between the province and developers.

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#76 Maverick

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 11:59 AM

Those are great pics Ressen,If anyone has more that would be great to.
You just have to applaud the way Stu Young, Langford`s mayor gets things rolling when he has a vision.Good old hard work and a little elbow grease,it`s amazing what you can do when you have the right people around your team.
Some teams will win and some will lose.
The Tree Sitters ,I`ll call them the loosing team,really should pack up their belonging`s and head off to some of these third world countries where all their energy they seem to have could possibly be put to good use,because obviously they have nothing to offer a growing community like Langford on Southern Vancouver Island. Oh and by the way someone please buy them a one way bus ticket out of town.

#77 UrbanRail

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 03:53 PM

Those are great pics Ressen,If anyone has more that would be great to.
You just have to applaud the way Stu Young, Langford`s mayor gets things rolling when he has a vision.Good old hard work and a little elbow grease,it`s amazing what you can do when you have the right people around your team.
Some teams will win and some will lose.
The Tree Sitters ,I`ll call them the loosing team,really should pack up their belonging`s and head off to some of these third world countries where all their energy they seem to have could possibly be put to good use,because obviously they have nothing to offer a growing community like Langford on Southern Vancouver Island. Oh and by the way someone please buy them a one way bus ticket out of town.



Personally I think Langford went a little overboard sending in all those police. The protestors were simply using a little thing called freedom of speech.

#78 amor de cosmos

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 03:56 PM

about how many protesters were there?

#79 G-Man

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 04:01 PM

I think around eight or so.

Langford is so over the top on this that it is gross. The main reason there is need for this overpass is that they allowed far too much development to happen that there is now gridlock going across the existing overpass.

Please "makes things happen"? How about messes things up so bad that they have to be fixed some how.

#80 gumgum

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 04:29 PM

You seem a little bias, Maverick. Just the tone of your post makes me think you might be personally involved. Why, even people whom support this project could at least give the protesters some kudos for at least sticking to their beliefs by going as far as to sacrifice creature comforts to support their cause.
As far as Stu's "vision". Care to share with us how this interchange is forward thinking and revolutionary? - that is after all what I would define as having "vision".
To me, this interchange is counter-productive and destructive, not to mention completely unnecessary.

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