Friday November 1, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The City of Langford has launched Phase 2 of its Official Community Plan (OCP) refresh/rethink process.
Residents are invited to participate in a survey about ideas collected during Phase 1 public engagement this past spring. The survey will be active online until November 20, 2024.
Phase 1 got things rolling:
During Phase 1 of public engagement, the city identified community priorities and best practices in city-building.
The City has issued an Ideas Paper that includes community feedback and links these ideas to significant new concepts and methods for high-quality city-building. Throughout the document, these ideas are called “initially preferred options.”
Phase 2 gauges public support:
Phase 2 public engagement seeks to gauge public support and concerns at an early stage, allowing adjustments before finalizing the draft OCP.
Feedback on initial options will guide development of the ideas and comments for inclusion in the draft, which will be shared for further input in Phase 3.
“We’re carefully listening to and integrating community feedback in phases to develop a refreshed OCP for Langford. Responsible development and positive growth require active and continual community engagement,” says Langford Mayor Scott Goodmanson.
“Your input throughout the refresh process will form the foundation of the City’s planning decisions to ensure we remain a community that thrives..” says Goodmanson to the community.
Urban planner:
Urban infill or sprawl? Car dependency or mobility choice? “Any city can decide to transform its city-building, and make the many hard decisions for a better future. Langford, BC is creating a new Official Community Plan, and I’m advising them,” says Brent Toderian, who led a public input session back in January 2024 for Phase 1.
He encourages Langford residents to read the innovative Ideas Paper that builds on Phase 1 public consultation.
“The new survey will test public support for the bold and important new ideas,” says Toderian. He encourages people to be part of the new plan for their community.
Four parts to the online survey:
There are four parts to the Phase 2 survey:
- OCP Survey Part 1: Growth Through Urban Infill and Mobility Choice
- OCP Survey Part 2: High Quality City-Building & New City Centre Policy
- OCP Survey Part 3: Mixed Use and Choice of Use Centres, The “4Cs” of Growth Management, New Urban Hierarchy of Places & Urban Employment Lands
- OCP Survey Part 4: Achieving Complete Communities, Realizing Neighbourhood Scale Villages, Corner Convenience.”
This is 16 years later:
For the first time in 16 years, the City of Langford is updating and re-evaluating aspects of its Official Community Plan (OCP) to strategically meet the needs of residents.
This includes addressing major issues such as climate change, housing affordability, social equity, public health, and increasing infrastructure costs.
The effectiveness of Langford’s new OCP in creating opportunities to tackle these challenges will depend on where and how the city decides to grow. A key component that drives the refresh is the estimate of population growth: Langford presently has about 50,000 residents and is expected to double in size to 100,000 residents by 2050.
Open house on Nov 2:
The community is invited to participate in a City of Langford open house on Saturday November 2. It’s being held in the gymnasium at Ruth King Elementary (at 2764 Jacklin Road) from 10 am to 1 pm. There is free on-site parking.
The open house is an opportunity for residents to learn more about the “initially preferred options,” provide valuable inputs, engage in meaningful discussions, and ask questions of City planning staff.
The open house will feature activities, crafts, and trick-or-treat stations for children to enjoy.
The City encourages residents to sign up on LetsChatLangford.ca and follow the City on social media to be notified about the various engagement opportunities over the next many months.
Paper copies of the survey are also available at City Hall reception, ground floor unit #117 – 877 Goldstream Avenue.
Phase 3:
Feedback from Phase 2 will help determine whether the current set of ideas should be developed further and included in the draft OCP.
That process will be undertaken (including further opportunity for community input) during Phase 3.
===== RELATED:
- Royal Roads University west shore research open house (October 30, 2024)
- Huge turnout at Langford community fun day in Happy Valley (August 29, 2024)
- Alistair MacGregor attends Langford Community Fun Day (July 18, 2024)
- Langford Community Fun Day to launch master plan engagement (July 15, 2024)
- Opinion: Langford OCP refresh faces some challenges (January 26, 2024)
- Well-attended intro to Langford OCP refresh (January 24, 2024)
- Langford launches Facebook page & online community forum (June 21, 2023)
NEWS SECTIONS: LANGFORD | VANCOUVER ISLAND | ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY