Wednesday June 10, 2020 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
In Langford there are several hot spots of economic and community activity. Certainly one of them is the section of town traversed by Langford Parkway, which runs from Jacklin Road at the east over to the next gateway at West Shore Parkway.
Along that stretch is a commercial/industrial sector punctuated by Starbucks, WhiteSpot, Fountain Tire, and the Keycorp Developments (sports and entertainment) offices including the Shamrocks office. Then grocery and liquor store, more industrial, a transitional roundabout to the Westhills Stadium and City Centre community activity area (arena, bowling, etc), and then immediately beyond to the main entrance to the Westhills residential area.
Earlier this year, all the banners on Langford Parkway from Jacklin Rd to West Shore Parkway were replaced, carrying sports themes including Pacific FC 2020 promotion.
The City of Langford takes pride in developing this section of town, stymied this year of course by the mass-gathering limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic. For 2020 there had been plans for a major concert (rumoured to be headlined by Bryan Adams), the Rugby Women’s Sevens, and of course the Pacific FC playing out their second season.
It was just last year that the stadium was officially reopened following an expansion of seating (up to 6,000) and upgrade of services (including more washrooms and storage, and food service areas).
“We have not calculated the loss on stadium events, however once the extended tax season is complete I am sure this is something that our finance department will review in detail,” the mayor is quoted this week.
The City of Langford has no dates or details on the potential Canadian Premier League (CPL) season, of which Pacific FC is just one of eight teams. However, a proposed sports hub is in the works by CPL, with a plan for their professional soccer season to be compacted into two months (with a start date somewhere between July and August). Nothing on that has been confirmed yet, as any plan would need to approved by the Provincial Health Officer to be in line particularly with COVID-19 physical distancing orders and guidelines.
As well, Pacific FC is about to get settled into some office space alongside the stadium (at 3024 Glen Lake Road) that is now becoming available as Rugby Canada no longer needs that space (they’re well set up in their own building across the street). Langford Council at their June 8 Special Meeting of Council authorized Mayor and staff to negotiate that deal.
Meanwhile, a bit of roadwork has been done on Langford Parkway this year, and foliage installed for the summer (the traditional local Langford theme of red and yellow) in some of the boulevards.