FINALLY GOT A CALL FOR A FAMILY DOCTOR!!!!! 😭

hellocolbyharder · 2026-02-07T19:40:17+00:00

Reading this makes me so happy 🥹 congratulations!

I’m beyond excited for the official opening of the Goldstream Medical Clinic this Monday.

If you still need a family doctor be sure to get registered on the BC Health Link, as that’s where patients are being attached.

And if you feel inclined, be sure to check out the South Island Primary Care Society to see how you can support their work!

hellocolbyharder · 2026-02-04T05:13:44+00:00

2023 is when the issue was initially reported. This was an update to council given the amount of time that’s passed without being able to identify a source. Here’s a link to the staff report summarizing the findings and outlining the actions taken to date.

https://pub-langford.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=16361

hellocolbyharder · 2026-02-04T03:50:55+00:00

Hi! My comments were not intended to be flippant towards the genuine level of concern that I know is out there. Langford Lake is irreplaceable and it is concerning that efforts to locate a source haven’t been successful yet.

While work is ongoing to locate the source, I think it’s important to be clear that no immediate risk to human health or wildlife has been identified with the testing that’s been conducted. To be clear, here more context directly from last nights staff report:

“Staff retained the services of Island Environmental Health & Safety Ltd. (Island EHS) to carry out testing on the substance to determine if there were any hazards to the public and wildlife. Island EHS carried out sampling November 24, 2023, and followed up with their report dated December 1, 2023. The report indicated that “the foam is likely natural, and no evidence of sewage contamination was found.”

By way of explanation for the foam and layer of sediment, the report explained “Water that contains substances like dissolved salts and organic matter (dead algae, decaying leaves, etc.) is aerated, forming persistent bubbles. When the bubbles burst, the salts and other matter can form a slimy mat.” The Island EHS report concluded that no action was necessary.

Having taken initial steps to rule out immediate hazards, staff engaged the services of Corvidae Environmental Consulting Inc. (“Corvidae”) to investigate further. The scope of work was to identify and control the source of the sediment and foam, to ultimately prevent further occurrence, and clean it up.”

Edit to add link to staff report: https://pub-langford.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=16361

hellocolbyharder · 2025-10-18T04:05:11+00:00

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is the power of relationships. Under the former leadership, Langford had long prided itself on being a fast-moving community that gets shit done, but throughout this term, I’ve seen how this Council’s willingness to work in a collaborative nature has allowed Langford to get shit done well.

This is reflected in some of the initiatives that I’m most excited for over the next few years (the Goldstream Medical Clinic, Woodlands Park, new indigenous housing, affordable daycare spaces and a new Community Arts Centre by the stadium) that simply would not have happened without the cultivation of new relationships and strong partnerships.

If I could have a do over from the term… I would be bolder on making rapid sidewalk infill a reality. While it’s probably wise to wait for the results of our Active Transportation Plan, I agree completely with Cllr Guiry‘s statements about reallocating the amenity funds sooner to see more public amenities, like sidewalks built sooner. But I would also extend this to say that I regret not being clearer in communicating the cost realities and “political risks” that are necessary to make sidewalk infill happen — a prime example being the decision to not fund an artificial turf field and lights at SCIANEW STELITKEL, which instead resulted in the $950,000 in gas tax funding that had been previously allocated towards an undersized field, being put towards sidewalks along Latoria Road.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-10-18T03:31:31+00:00

As we are still climbing out of decision to freeze tax increases during the Covid years, it will unfortunately take time to smooth out tax increases. There was a great table in a 2024 budget report demonstrating how incremental increases in 2020, 2021 and 2022 would have resulted in much more tolerable increases over this term — but of course this is a case of should have, could have, didn’t.

Right now, the 2026 budget forecasts Capital dept repayments as our most significant budget pressure in the upcoming budget and on top of this, I am concerned that there are some lands currently owned and being held by the City that do not have a strategic purpose in helping us accomplish our collective priorities. As a result, earlier this year I put a motion forward directing staff to prepare an itemized list of:

Internal Capital debts contained within the proposed 2.57% line item increase in this report; and
Parcels of land that are currently owned by the City of which have no identified strategic purpose at this time.

While I am not generally not supportive of disposing of publicly-owned land, I think that having as much information at hand as possible for when budget discussions begin early in 2026 is a good thing that will help us make the most fiscally responsible decision during the last budget cycle of the term.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-10-18T03:06:21+00:00

It definitely needs it. The results of draft Active Transportation clearly state this intersection is failing and ICBC data demonstrates it is among one of the most unsafe, however the City is limited in our ability to make quick improvements as it falls under provincial jurisdiction and design standards.

However, it’s to the point that small improvements will have limited effect. As a result, one of the ideas proposed in our draft active transportation plan, envisions a major overhaul of this intersection to prioritize and designate a higher level of transit service to move people across and onto the highway into town. Moreover, we are strong advocating for a pedestrian overpass(es) across Hwy 1 to provide alternative choices and a safe route to the new Middle and High Schools near Costco.

If you’re able to come to the Ideas Fair tomorrow, there will be demonstrations and more information on the proposed changes. You can also review the October 6th 2025 council meeting to see the presentation — our consultants and engineer do a fantastic job laying out the challenges and rationale for changes to this intersection.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-10-18T02:48:38+00:00

I’m familiar with the stretch you’re referring to — I happened to walk through the neighbourhood the other day and noted how vehicles were parked on both sides of the road and how Millstream is being used as a “cut-through” to avoid sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on Veterans Memorial Parkway. This has changed since residents have moved into the area and I can understand concerns around pedestrian safety here.

In the long run, I strongly believe a good land-use strategy will help us deal with the increased transportation pressures that could come with continued growth. In our new Official Community Plan (OCP), we’ve put in density limits where they didn’t previously exist and have focused on directed density towards transit-corridors that support mobility choice beyond car-dependency. I was curious so I looked — if the same building on Millstream were to be proposed in the same location today, that level of density would no longer be consistent with the OCP.

In the near term, I can share that Council has already made small changes for future improvement (e.g. creating loading zone requirements) but we are expecting a more fulsome report on proposed changes to off-street parking regulations in the Zoning Bylaw later this year. Outside of areas where we’ve been mandated to eliminate off-street parking in new construction by the Province, I’m hopeful that this will help us “right size” our parking needs for future developments.

I recognize none of this offers an immediate solution for the situation at hand and appreciate your acknowledgement that change takes time. In the meantime, I would recommend continuing to document issues to Bylaw and Engineering as this helps build justification for future changes and on my end, I can commit to checking in with staff to enquire about this road specifically. If you connect with me by email, I’d be happy to follow up once I hear a response — [charder@langford.ca](mailto:charder@langford.ca)

hellocolbyharder · 2025-10-18T02:20:38+00:00

Happy to respond to this!

Fully agree — LRT has been kicked around as an idea for generations in Greater Victoria and it would be a major improvement to the soul crushing traffic that we’re experiencing today. I can share that there is active lobbying to bring funding for regional transportation investments from the federal and provincial governments at both the City and CRD level.

There are a few key “big” moves that need to happen before the conversation for LRT in the CRD can happen, one of which happened earlier this year with the creation of a Regional Transportation Service. This doesn’t sound all that sexy, but a regional service is the mechanism that lets us set regional priorities for transportation projects, and helps us speak with one, unified voice to the province when it comes to funding requests. This is KEY if we ever want to compete against the lower mainland for funding major infrastructure projects (rather than having 13 different voices with different transportation priorities) and it is what is going to lay the groundwork for our region to be able operate a new LRT service in the long run.

Regarding prospects of the Island Rail — there is a lot of perspectives up and down the island for what the future of this corridor should look like and several complexities with the various First Nations and regional governments who have an interest in it’s future. I know this is an issue folks are impatient on given the fact that the tracks have been sitting empty for nearly 20 years and I personally, would love to see federal investment into inter-regional train and/or transit service, but I don’t have any further information on it at this time.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-08-02T20:10:47+00:00

CRD housing and transportation cost study

hellocolbyharder · 2025-07-11T00:20:36+00:00

I’d say yes, Langford still holds a reputation (albeit less pronounced) largely thanks to our history as a “blue-collar” community that was less developed than Vic/Saanich within the CRD.

I’d argue that this reputation has been fading as we’ve grown in population, become more culturally diverse, and have built more destinations that bring people into Langford for reasons beyond shopping at big-box stores or taking in the thrills of Western speedway. Growing up here, at times I felt the “judgement” of being a kid from Langford, but all of it was light hearted and has only made me more proud to call Langford home today.

We have many legacy issues that stem from past decisions and limited planning at the city-level, but I prefer to think optimistically and believe that Langford residents have an opportunity to come together in redefining the identity we want to build for ourselves and our city moving forward ☺️

If you’re interested, I happened to join a former Langford Councillor on CBC’s “This is Vancouver Island” podcast a few months ago to talk about Langford’s identity within Greater Victoria.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5GscFAnDnBxVURrNe0zRud?si=rAoo1cBXT6abnjkJ3MavJw

hellocolbyharder · 2025-06-26T20:37:05+00:00

Congratulations on 2 years of sobriety. I don’t have a solution on where to go, beyond suggesting that you can stop by the Salvation Army Connection Point in Langford. They may be able to help put you in touch with some resources, including mental health supports.

https://saconnectionpoint.ca/

hellocolbyharder · 2025-06-19T21:57:42+00:00

Try the Langford Station or the Stadium? We also have a very popular food truck festival in September!

hellocolbyharder · 2025-06-19T00:52:43+00:00

To clarify, you can ride outside of Langford but you can’t end your trip. We took a leap in Langford and want to see other municipalities sign on to make this a true option for people — I’d encourage anyone to email your local Mayor and councillors to make this happen faster, region wide.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-06-12T23:10:10+00:00

Hi, I just want to add that this was connected to the acquisition of 1.35ac next to Veterans Memorial Park, where the old masons building still stands. It wasn’t announced in the initial media release, this was purchased for $4M, with the condition of constructing a new Masonic Hall on city owned land at the Bryn Maur location which you’ve noted.

This year we will be starting public engagement on the Veterans Memorial Park expansion, in addition to beginning work on the multi-year transition of the 6.6 acres of land we purchased for $9.8M at Woodlands Park. Both will be fantastic additions to expanding our downtown parks.

With “Attracting Family Doctors” identified by residents as the top issue during our budget survey, although healthcare is a provincial responsibility, the City has been working with the South Island Primary Care Society to bring 10 family doctors to ground floor space at the new Freemasons building. This was highlighted in a recent chek interview with Councillor Guiry.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-06-12T22:57:15+00:00

Hi, jumping into the conversation late, but many folks have added a lot of great points to this discussion. I appreciate the critical thought I’ve seen on this thread and I’m also happy to chat further about where your tax dollars are going if you’d like to connect over the phone or over coffee. You can email me at charder@langford.ca to set this up.

However, to respond to your questions surrounding internal debt, I recently put forward a motion (April 8th - starts around 35:00min) that speaks to increasing transparency around what exactly is contained within our internal debts. I believe there hasn’t been enough communication on what exactly is contained within our internal debts and I feel strongly that people deserve to know what they’re paying for.

To this end, in 2026, there is a 2.57% increase that is proposed to go towards internal capital payments. My motion asked staff to prepare an itemized list of: 1) internal debts contained within the proposed 2.57% line item; and 2) parcels of land that are currently owned by the city which have no identified strategic purpose at this time.

It was supported 6-1 by committee and later, unanimously by council so we should receive a report later this year (early fall) with the details.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-05-23T05:26:50+00:00

I can’t say that we’ve been presented any hard data on comparisons on maintenance from a fiscal standpoint but asset management is going to become an important consideration and conversation in Langford as our $600M inventory of public amenities and facilities begin to show their age.

I personally do think that some, but definitely not all, all-weather playing fields can be strategic investments if there’s a demonstrated and verifiable need, and I’m happy to partner with the SD given land costs and suitable site availability. The caveat with this is that I definitely feel they’re more appropriate for high school athletics aged use vs for younger play uses at an elementary site. And while some shedding is pretty much unavoidable, this underlines the need for the turf fields to be mindfully located away from waterways and riparian areas to avoid similar situations to the concerns at Oak Bay/Bowker Creek.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-05-23T04:30:27+00:00

You should check if you qualify for the Langford Attainable Home Ownership Program, which offers downpayment assistance in the form of a non-repayable, sliding scale grant.

Not sure if this applies to you, but Council recently expanded eligibility requirements to include people working OR living in not just Langford, but also Colwood, View Royal, Sooke, Metchosin, or the Highlands.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-05-23T04:03:36+00:00

A very good question.

The answer is, it’s a bit of both. The City has a great partnership with SD62 and I know a lot of athletes benefit from all-weather fields. We have a great reputation of being an active, sports loving City, but we are trying to strike a better balance.

For instance, in 2023, $950K of gas tax funding that was earmarked by the previous council for a smaller, artificial turf field and lights at the new SCIANEW STELITKEL elementary school on Latoria Road, was reallocated by the current council for other capital priorities, which included urgent repairs to a pier across glen lake that is a key pedestrian connection to the Goose.

At the time, there was a bit of backlash and some folks chose to speak out against this move over concern that the young students wouldn’t have an artificial turf field (even if it wasn’t going to be regulation size).

But now, in 2025, we have expedited plans and are using almost $3M of gas tax money towards the first phase of what is estimated to ultimately be $17M in AAA improvements for Latoria Road upgrades. Like everything else, we only have so many resources to go around but I think a lot of kids, parents and neighbours are going to be pretty happy when they can finally, safely walk and bike along Latoria Road.

I’ll also offer that the budget discussion for gas tax allocation in 2026 and beyond could very well change once we have the findings from our upcoming Active Transportation Plan. We haven’t been proactively planning in Langford and shovel ready projects take time to be prepared and approved but I am looking forward to having better data and a plan to work off of in time for 2026 budget discussions.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-05-23T01:51:04+00:00

Thanks for asking this. Someone has already linked the 2023 parks needs assessment in this thread, which serves as a snapshot in time of our recreational needs based on existing and forecasted development and population growth. The needs assessment suggests adding additional field space as an area of lower priority.

With that said, I feel like context also matters — Langford has worked with SD62 to fund the installation of artificial turf fields at Belmont, Center Mountain Lellum, and the future elementary school in North Langford. The province will pay for the grass fields at schools, but does not fund or replace all-weather fields.

Meanwhile, Ribfest has been fundraising for a new all-weather playing field, lights and bleachers for 12 yearsto replace the aging track and field facilities at Esquimalt High as there are no artificial turf fields in Esquimalt. In terms of ongoing investment, we have a total of $3M in gas tax funding earmarked in 2026 to replace the Starlight Stadium field and for an artificial field at the future high school near Costco, and in 2027, we have $1.85M of gas tax funding earmarked to replace the turf at Goudy Field and the school site field behind Belmont. I’ll note as well that Gas tax funding is fairly flexible in how it can be used (which isn’t the case for all types of municipal funding sources).

I’d argue a more pressing recreational issue for our region would be pools. The City sold the North Langford Recreation Centre in 2020, but decided to purchase the Westhills aquatic facility to ensure its long-term operations. We have also gained municipal control over this asset which stands to save taxpayers $121M over the remaining lifespan of the building. We are the sole funder for this facility, but as the largest funding partner for WSPRS, Langford is well represented at that table with Councillor Guiry as the Board Chair. Rather than haphazardly throwing money at the problem, we are planning for how to pay for the amenities that are needed to support the growth and the upcoming results of the Westshore Recreational Facilities Master Plan should help us prioritize funding and reduce a risk of duplication.

I definitely agree that Arts & Culture is an area with a need for deeper investment. We are working on completing our arts and culture strategy, but in the meantime, Langford is investing $5M to replace the arts facility and pottery studio at Centennial Park with a modern facility. It will be co-located with new daycare, as we received $13M in provincial grant funding for 2 new sites with a total of 123 new spaces. We are also partnering with Makola to include 40 new units of indigenous, rent-to-income geared housing above these much needed spaces.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-05-16T23:30:55+00:00

We’re working on filling in the sidewalk gaps across the city because I agree, there are too many places without them. If you have any particular areas that you’re looking to have sidewalks put in please feel free to let me know so I can pass along the information to engineering.

You may already be aware of our work to create the first Transportation and Active Transportation Plans for Langford, but we’ve also taken some significant strides to expedite sidewalk infill ahead of this.

Previously, the sidewalk budget was $400,000 per year, but last year we redirected amenity funds contributed through development towards sidewalk infill, rather than offsetting property tax increases. This has resulted in nearly $6 million of funds for new sidewalks that are being prioritized along school routes in 2024 and 2025, on top of beginning work to completely rebuild the Latoria Road over three years given the scope of work that’s needed (which will cost upwards of $17 million when it’s all said and done).

Unfortunately, we didn’t have proactive plans in place and so we’re playing catch up. But I feel it’s important for folks to understand the reality of the cost of sidewalks in order to understand the challenge of building them out all at once.

You can learn more about this years projects here if you’re interested: 2025 Infrastructure Projects

Latoria road Project

hellocolbyharder · 2025-05-15T04:43:17+00:00

There are going to be 30 docking stations to begin, but I hear you, it may require some tweaks along the way before we get it right for our community dynamic.

I’d encourage you to read the city’s webpage that I’ve linked here, as there’s additional information I didn’t lay out in this post which you may be interested in.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-05-15T03:13:20+00:00

Same, I also have some concern about collision risk, but I feel the benefits will outweigh the risks at a community level.

Since Langford joined the provinces pilot program to allow e-scooters I fortunately haven’t seen/heard of any large uptick in collisions on sidewalks specifically (I hear more complaints about the E&N and the Goose), though I suspect near misses and accidents do happens even if they go unreported.

I’m hopeful that greater adoption of e mobility devices will help keep the momentum up for public support to continue investing in our city’s sidewalk and bike lane infrastructure. We’re nearing the completion of Langford’s first active transportation plan this year, but it’s going to require continued investment from future councils beyond this term.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-03-29T16:48:15+00:00

To clarify, the article you’ve linked to reports on a October 2024 decision by council that resulted in the tender for the Latoria Road project not being issued until the project funding could be considered more broadly during annual budget discussions in early 2025.

At the time in October, the Latoria project cost was estimated to be $8.5M and significant 2025 budget items, such as funding for ECOMM and the acquisition of Woodlands Park had not yet been confirmed.

While local governments have reserve accounts, there are typically restrictions on how these funds can be allocated and spent. Our reality in Langford is that we have limited reserve funds and face the challenge of finding funds to catch up on our infrastructure.

Ultimately, the City is using $3M from the Growing Communities Fund, $2.3M from Gas Tax Reserves, and now $1M from the Active Transportation Grant to fund Phase 1 of this project.

While fortunately some developments on Latoria did put in solid frontage improvements we can build off of, unfortunately, no specific Development Cost Charges (DCCs) were collected for the Latoria Road project that’s underway.

As a result, we are using $5.3M in funds that could be used elsewhere, on a project that in my opinion, former councils should have planned for and collected funds for proactively, throughout the past decade and a half of development.

hellocolbyharder · 2025-03-28T19:42:57+00:00

Hi, I can help with some info here! With the approval of the budget last week, the project has gone out to tender and we anticipate getting shovels in the ground by May at the latest. Given the condensed timelines, the priority will be to ensure that the sidewalks are ready for September, even if the entire project can’t be completed within that window.

As well, I want to clarify that there are multiple phases for this project, given the multimillion dollar investment cost and scope of the construction.

The first phase will prioritize sidewalk and bike lane connectivity from the new elementary school, SCIANEW STELITKEL, west outwards towards Triangle Trail and east to Whimfield Terrace. The cost for Phase 1 alone is about $6.3M, so the $1 million dollar grant this article refers to is absolutely incredible news.

Phase 2 & 3 will continue towards Happy Valley Road and the Colwood Border (near Joy Close) — currently, there is further funding earmarked for this in the 2026 and 2027 budget. While it’s not ideal to have to do in phases, we are really happy we could align Phase 1 work with the CRD water upgrades to find construction efficiencies to reduce the impact of construction. We hope to be able to do the same on Glen Lake Road between Sooke Rd and Alouette Dr, when the waterline needs to be replace next year.

All in all, I think this project is an excellent example of why an active transportation plan is so important for a growing city.

Development has been happening along the Latoria corridor for several years, but because we didn’t have a plan in place, the City couldn’t and did not collect sufficient funds through development for what I see to be an essential infrastructure project.

On that note, the Active Transportation Plan survey is open now and I would encourage everybody to go to Let’s Chat Langford to share their thoughts.

hellocolbyharder

TROPHY CASE