261 replies to this topic

[Lorenzo]

Getting back on topic, I think I need to go out to Westhills and take a look at the whole area before I can pass judgement on the place.

Start by looking at it from across Langford Lake. It is hideous.

[LJ]

As long as the condo foundation is properly screwed to the bedrock I'm sure it will be fine.

The condo is built on bedrock, they blasted the foundation out, it won't be going anywhere.

[Mike K.]

As noted in this thread referencing the upcoming YMCA/YWCA, a rendering of the aquatic facility also shows what appears to be a residential highrise.

The location of the YMCA is on the edge of what will eventually become a focal point/town centre of the community.

[Nparker]

They could have included an image of the Prometheus encountering some sort of multi-jawed futuristic alien but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen.

[Mike K.]

Westhills is trying to lobby BC Transit for transit services. An online petition has been launched with the following statement:

A top priority for Westhills and its residents is the need for safe, reliable public transit service. With over 1,300 residents now living in Westhills, it is time to lobby BC Transit for the same service that everyone else in the region enjoys.

This is an opportunity to be environmentally responsible, as well as a cost efficient way of traveling throughout Langford and the region. Westhills’ foundation principles go hand-in-hand with those of public transit.

We asked our residents for their comments. Surita said, “A transit system for the residents is very important to us. I hope there is a change soon.” Aaron commented, “Having smaller buses connecting the different neighbourhoods of Westhills will help.”

There are many wonderful amenities surrounding Westhills, like the bowling alley, arena, mini-golf, lake and many others at its doorstep; the need for proper public transit service is a priority. Westhills residents should have full access to public transportation, similarly to other communities in the region.

If you support a public transportation service to Westhills, please sign our petition.

Edit: The nearest transit services is at Western Exchange on Station Ave. That's a 15-20 min walk for many residents.

[Nparker]

Westhills is trying to lobby BC Transit for transit services...

"This is an opportunity to be environmentally responsible, as well as a cost efficient way of traveling throughout Langford and the region. Westhills’ foundation principles go hand-in-hand with those of public transit."

The time to be environmentally responsible was before this project ever got off the ground. It's sort of ironic that a development that required clearcutting a forest half way to nowhere now takes up the environmental banner. Suburban sprawl like Westhills is the antithesis of green design, and quite frankly I am glad to see them having to pay the price for this. Any increase in transit servce to this far-flung region should be paid directly by the residents who chose to live there, not by the taxpayers of the region. There are plenty of more central locations in the CRD where a more dense development could have been built and NOT require additional transit dollars.

[seymour201]

When did 20 minutes from town become "far-flung region"?

Urban sprawl is gonna happen one way or another so having it be a LEED development is pretty much the best way for it to happen. Far less impact then having something done by some cheap-o developer in it for a quick buck.

[sebberry]

Not to mention where in town are you going to build 5,000 homes?

[2F2R]

>>>to this far-flung region<<< right!

I think that's what they called Oak Bay ... from inside the fort walls!

[Mike K.]

It is a bit silly that the plethora of new civic facilities along Langford Parkway are not connected by transit. It's more than a kilometer from Western Exchange to the new bowling alley.

[jklymak]

Urban sprawl is gonna happen one way or another

Thats an unfortunate attitude to urban planning...

[Nparker]

...Urban sprawl is gonna happen one way or another...

Why? Good urban planning should encourage and reward more dense development closer to the core and discourage and penalize suburban growth. Sprawl is a choice (and a poor one at that) not an inevitability.

[sebberry]

Again, where are you going to stick 5,000 homes, many of them houses, closer to the city?

[Nparker]

Again, where are you going to stick 5,000 homes, many of them houses, closer to the city?

10,000 residents could easily be accomodated in high-rise structures throughout the 4 core municipalities. What is this, about 100 Juliets or 834s? The will and incentives just aren't there (currently). Otherwise, if people insist on their detached suburban spaces, then they have to be prepared to pay a premium for that, in transportation costs if nothing else.

[sebberry]

One could argue that people who wish to live in detached houses are already paying a significant premium for that luxury in terms of high price houses, higher taxes, higher utilities, higher gas prices for their longer commutes.. the list goes on. Not everyone wants to live in a condo, either.

And where do you find the land to build a hundred 834's?

It's funny how we criticize current and planned developments like Westhills for being urban sprawl and yet easily forget how the homes we live in now are standing on what was once farmland or other undeveloped land.

At one point it was ok to expand, but now we have to confine ourselves to existing city limits?

I don't know much about the "Westhills community plan" but I do agree that it would be a big oversight to leave out community grocery stores and other services that would be within walking distance to the majority of the homes there.

[VicHockeyFan]

It is a bit silly that the plethora of new civic facilities along Langford Parkway are not connected by transit. It's more than a kilometer from Western Exchange to the new bowling alley.

Ya, that's not well done at all. A few years back I needed to go out to a Rebels game, it was a bit of a quandary. I managed, but I can't imagine a mother and two small kids making it out often.

[LJ]

10,000 residents could easily be accomodated in high-rise structures throughout the 4 core municipalities. What is this, about 100 Juliets or 834s? The will and incentives just aren't there (currently). Otherwise, if people insist on their detached suburban spaces, then they have to be prepared to pay a premium for that, in transportation costs if nothing else.

And where would you put the arena, bowling alley, theatre, playing fields that those people would require?

[Nparker]

And where would you put the arena, bowling alley, theatre, playing fields that those people would require?

With the exception of a bowling alley (which I am not certain is a requirement) all of those ammenities already exist in the downtown core and are replicated throughout the immediate surrounding municipalities.

[sebberry]

immediate surrounding municipalities.

Which exist as a result of urban sprawl.

Your proposal is to build more in the core and let people travel away from it to use those amenities instead of building new communities, including those amenities, away from the core. Or am I getting mixed up here?

[Nparker]

...Your proposal is to build more in the core and let people travel away from it to use those amenities instead of building new communities, including those amenities, away from the core. Or am I getting mixed up here?

Not mixed up so much as perhaps not reading through all my posts on this subject. Of course not everyone would be housed downtown. In an earlier post, I suggested building the equivalent of 100 Juliets within the 4 core municipalities. In Esquimalt the areas immediately adjacent to Vic West and along the Esquimalt Road corridor are suited to much greated density. For Saanich it would mean concentrating the density around Uptown and other areas closest to the existing core. Highrises in Gordon Head and Broadmead (for example) defeat the purpose of densifying the core (see my posts on Capital City Centre for my thoughts on this). More dense "villages" throughout each of the 4-cores should also be part of this plan (Shelbourne, Cook Street Village, Willows-Estevan etc.). Even Oak Bay could build greater density (perhaps only once all of the NIMBYs have either died or moved elsewhere). I still say accomodating the inhabitants of Westhills could be easily done within existing areas of the "city" if the will is there and proper planning were in place.