posted by admin on Mar 4
Mar 4, 2014
With four lots in Langford surrounding the Trans-Canada Highway now in private hands, nearby residents are worried about what might come next.
Tricia Markle, who grew up in Langford and whose mother still lives on Mill Hill, is part of a group seeking to prevent development on the land, which was recently sold by the province as part of its dissolution of the Provincial Capital Commission.
Read the rest of this entry »
posted by admin on Apr 26
By Edward Hill – Goldstream News Gazette
Published: April 21, 2011 11:00 AM
Updated: April 21, 2011 11:25 AM
Christina Willing opens the tall wire gate to what was once a community garden, now overgrown with broom and largely forgotten. She scowls at a sign that reads “Willing Park Closed.”
About 10 years ago the garden was abandoned, although the tall deer fencing and a broken down shed remains. But with homes and townhouses cropping up next door in Valley View Estates, Willing wants the community to get better use from the park that bears her family name.
“We already have a fenced in area for a garden. The rest is a natural area enjoyed by animals and birds,” says Willing, as she walks through a pasture that was once part of her family’s dairy farm.
Read the rest of this entry »
posted by admin on Sep 15
lands and farms are being taken over by housing subdivisions
This semi-rural area in a flood plain is subjected to heavy construction as houses are levelled, soil is scraped and farmers try to cope with the new reality.
There will only a chain link fence separating a herd of cattle from the new subdivision, with no buffer between city and country.
posted by admin on Aug 23
Dean Murdock
Saanich Councillor, and
Peninsula Agricultural Commission Liaison
Once again, our region is faced with the challenge of proposals to develop agricultural land for residential purposes. The market value of farm land as potential real estate is a tempting cash infusion for farmers struggling to maintain a profit. But this is a short-term solution. In the long run, it is no solution at all — and brings major consequences for future food production, land use, and our valued quality of life.
As our population grows, there is increased demand for development and pressure to break through our urban containment boundaries and encroach upon agricultural land. Many local governments in the province have done just that. But developing agricultural land to accommodate growth is killing the goose for its golden egg. It compromises our food security and makes a mockery of our land-use plans (and the citizens’ input into them), while contributing to car-dependent sprawl.
Instead of paving our farmland for housing to generate real estate income, we should be looking for more ways to support our local farmers and their food production by keeping farming profitable. There are lots of options: creating “pocket markets” to sell local foods, encouraging local governments and businesses to bring in a “buy local” policy for events, and working with senior levels of government to create incentives for grocers to offer local food choices.
As we develop an Agricultural Action Plan, I welcome your ideas and suggestions on ways to support local farmers and encourage local food production. Send me your ideas: http://deanmurdock.ca/contact-me
Buying local food doesn’t just support our farmers, it’s good for our health and environment too. Local food is fresher and has a much smaller carbon footprint. Since it arrives fresh, it needs less (or no) preservatives.
Protecting and enhancing local food production starts with saving our agricultural land and maintaining our community’s urban containment boundaries. We have already planned, through public consultation, technical analysis, and council approvals, to concentrate future density in urban centres and to buffer farm lands from suburban intrusion. It reflects our long-term commitment to a future that avoids further urban sprawl, reduces congestion and greenhouse gases, and ensures we have an abundant local food supply.
Let’s support our farmers and save our farmland. Doing so will protect our quality of life, food security, our health, and our climate for now and future generations.
posted by admin on Aug 14
Manufacturing our local landscapes
Published: August 03, 2010 1:00 PM
A native black-cap bush used to grow beside the road just along from my place. It yielded tasty berries unlike anything you can buy.
To me the bush seemed such a treasure that in a dry August I carried buckets to water it. So I was shocked to see one summer morning that a neighbourhood-improver had tidied the road margin by leveling the ground and rooting out all vegetation, including my valued black-cap, for a couple of square metres.
Read the rest of this entry »
posted by admin on Mar 16
Former agricultural land to become subdivision in Langford
BY BILL CLEVERLEY, TIMES COLONISTMARCH 16, 2010
A 501-unit subdivision on a 13.9 hectare parcel at 936 Flatman Ave. was given Langford council’s blessing Monday night following a low-key public hearing.
To be known as McCormick Meadows, the proposal made by architect Herbert Kwan for Sydney and Gay McCormick, is to create 102 single family lots, 61 townhouses and 338 apartment units in five buildings of up to six storeys on the formerly agricultural land.
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/travel/Former+agricultural+land+become+subdivision+Langford/2689931/story.html
RELATED: Houses planned for farmland
posted by admin on Dec 14
To City Planning:
I am writing in regards to Bylaw 1262
a) Planning, Zoning & Affordable Housing Committee – November 9′”, 2009 14
1. Rezoning Application – 3324, 3328, 3348 & 3352 Hazelwood Road and 1024 Englewood Ave (Application to Rezone from AGI [Agriculture 1] and R2A [One and Two Family Residential] to a new Comprehensive Development zone to allow for the development of approximately 65 residential lots (File No. Z -09-16)
——————————————–
I was unaware of this zoning proposal until recently when I decided to walk down Hazelwood Rd. instead of my usual route on the Galloping Goose and saw the sign. Truthfully, it is very difficult to keep up with the speed of the rezoning proposals that come forward.
The traditional layout of this neighbourhood is well suited for being situated on a flood plain. (http://bilstoncreek.org/floods.htm) If/when the floods come, (and they always will), very few homes are affected, and the agricultural land is not affected, and at best, it helps prepare it for the dry summer ahead.
The more I learn about food security, the more I know how extremely fortunate Langford is to have agricultural land and neighbourhoods like Hazelwood, and how important it is to save them from becoming some generic suburb that could be anywhere in North America.
This unique, old neighbourhood can be preserved and with support from the city, as per the Langford Agricultural Strategy, make parts of the yards into productive food gardens. This would bring more families closer to becoming self-sustaining, and add further produce to the Farmers Market.
It could also be showcased to the world, to highlight a city with great vision and foresight, that realized the true value in having and retaining such places as the Hazelwood neighbourhood and it’s agricultural lands in the ALR. When the situation soon arises, and communities need to rely more on their own resources to produce food, Langford could be among the “haves”, not a “have not” like all the other cities.
I am not anti-development because development and growth can be parsed various ways. The main core surrounding downtown is the most practical and logical place to develop for housing and density by adding high rises and multi-family units to that corridor rather than outlying areas. – The main roadway and public transportation corridor is in this area – It is already developed and not agricultural land. – It is easy to walk to amenities – pedestrian friendly
In contrast, South Langford lacks road infrastructure, amenities, good public transportation, no bus shelters and claws away more scarce agricultural land. The long run costs to the city in terms of services and infrastructure needed, will outweigh the short run financial benefits, not to mention the new social costs that arise with increased density.
A one acre organic micro-farm has the potential to generate a $40,000 income while maintaining the land’s fertility. (http://www.new-terra-natural-food.com/micro-farming-for-profit.html )
Landowners producing food and value-added products and services can begin right now and generate money for the local economy year after year with stable, real sustainable, local employment for those involved. The low density also mean no further infrastructure, services or increase of flood damage claims. How is that not a win-win situation?
Various groups of citizens are organizing in response to Langford Agricultural Strategy to work with the city, other regions, and organizations, on many of the issues outlined in the Strategy. Alternate plans that include developing a strong agricultural sector in the local economy could be more beneficial to the city and citizens over the long run, and a chance should be given to compile and present the data. (In development: http://greenlangford.ca/)
It would make a great deal of sense to place a moratorium on any further housing development in these low density / agricultural/Greenbelt lands until there is chance for this report to be discussed by interested local residents. It would be a great show of faith and commitment on the city’s part that it is taking the Langford Agricultural Strategy seriously.
Regards, Deb Harper
http://homegrow.ca/
posted by admin on Jun 21
By Zoe Blunt
June 2009
Langford’s farmers, food lovers, and political bodies are struggling with the dilemma of farmland preservation
Along Bilston Creek, fat mallards flap and quack over a willow thicket and red-winged blackbirds perch on cattails to sing their spring songs. Nearby fields are dotted with blackberries, horse paddocks, and hay bales. But public notices on Happy Valley Road warn that new housing developments are on the horizon, and these farmlands and wetlands are getting squeezed by creeping urbanization. For years, Langford’s fastgrowth policies have put the city squarely at odds with local food and farming advocates.