Seems like a lot of police.
I'm not sure how they would get that many.
Posted 13 February 2008 - 05:06 PM
Seems like a lot of police.
Posted 13 February 2008 - 06:17 PM
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
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.
“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.
Posted 14 February 2008 - 01:28 PM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 14 February 2008 - 04:27 PM
Posted 14 February 2008 - 05:23 PM
Posted 14 February 2008 - 06:08 PM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 14 February 2008 - 07:35 PM
Posted 15 February 2008 - 03:01 AM
Posted 15 February 2008 - 07:36 AM
Posted 15 February 2008 - 08:28 AM
http://www.canada.co...c7-93eca89a008aConstruction 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>
Posted 15 February 2008 - 08:38 AM
^ And the need for greater regional political cohesion.
Posted 16 February 2008 - 08:56 AM
Posted 16 February 2008 - 09:26 AM
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.
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.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.
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 16 February 2008 - 11:59 AM
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.
Posted 16 February 2008 - 03:56 PM
Posted 16 February 2008 - 04:01 PM
Posted 16 February 2008 - 04:29 PM
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users