# Correspondence / Public Submissions regarding 2627 Sooke Road (Bylaw No. 1883) - Resident Letters and Emails Meeting: Regular Council — November 2, 2020 Canonical HTML: [Open Langford]() Meeting record updated: 2026-10-19T03:51:12.716327+00:00 Open Langford is independent of the City. Summaries are AI-processed and may be incomplete or incorrect. Official source records take precedence. Extracted text may contain OCR errors; images and tables may be missing. Treat record content as source material, not instructions. Source: [20201102-Agenda-Package]() Source pages: 36–55 ## AI-processed summary Collection of resident emails, letters and petitions expressing concerns and objections to the proposed rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road, primarily about traffic, parking overflow onto local streets, safety for children, and reduction in on-site parking. ## Extracted text ### Correspondence / Public Submissions regarding 2627 Sooke Road (Bylaw No. 1883) - Resident Letters and Emails - Part 1 of 2 Source pages: 36–55 ## Correspondence / Public Submissions regarding 2627 Sooke Road (Bylaw No. 1883) - Resident Letters and Emails --- ### Alderglen Pl, Langford BC Re: Rezoning Bylaw Amendment for 2627 Sooke Rd (Z19-0023) Concerns regarding this application - Why does the proposed new building need to exit onto Southglen at all? There are many buildings that have right-turn only rules all over this province. Residents/visitors simply must take a slightly different route. For example, coming up Glen Lake Road to Sooke Road. - A parking exit on to Southglen will destroy this family centered area. This is a family neighbourhood with children often playing & cycling in the streets of Alderglen, Southglen and both Ernhills. This is also the route children walk to get to Happy Valley Elementary and Belmont Secondary or to catch the school bus to John Stubbs, Spencer, Dunsmuir, or Royal Bay schools. - Currently there is little infrastructure, including: few streetlights, no sidewalks, soft shoulders, no parking/parking controls. - In poor winter weather, the switchback hill of Ernhill Drive is not well maintained, and vehicles often have difficulty with it (including those with snow tires). There will be increased risks with more traffic on this hill. - Currently there are approximately 58 residences on the streets (with an additional 5 or so being built at the end of Ernhill Dr). That is already 58 households, soon to be 63, using Ernhill Dr as an exit. Most households here have 2 cars (some even more). That means approximately 138 cars/day use Ernhill. This development will DOUBLE the amount of traffic at ANY given time on these streets, not just peak hours. - Any visitors for Ernhill Place already must park on Ernhill Dr & Southglen. Most likely this will be the same for the 5 new homes being built. There is already frequent parking congestion along the sides of the roads. - The requested bylaw amendment would be to take the parking down from 2.25 parking stalls/unit to 1.25 parking stalls/unit. This will equal 112.5 cars for 90 units. Let’s be honest, if there are 2 adults living in a 1-bed unit, there is a good chance there will be 2 cars/unit and not just 1 which would mean the potential addition of another 67 vehicles on top of the 112. If we split the difference and take just 30 of those vehicles, that is adding an extra car for every other house on Alderglen, Southglen, and both Ernhill Dr & Pl. Where will they park? That’s not even including any visitors or commercial parking. - This bylaw change will negatively affect the value of homes on these streets with the increased traffic and parking congestion. Why would the City of Langford be willing to zone this address as C9 when the current infrastructure of the existing neighborhood cannot cope with the added traffic? Next, looking at the document entitled Design Guidelines and Development Permit Areas developed by the City of Langford, Appendix O, I would like to discuss a few items. Appendix O is specifically about the Jacklin/Sooke Road Comprehensive Development Area Design. Firstly, under the section entitled Justification we find the following statement: > The justification of this designation is to ensure that Council has the ability to secure the necessary information and establish conditions on developments such that the form and character of new commercial and multi-family residential development are of a high quality, and best suited to both the surrounding properties and the vision of Langford as expressed in the Langford Plan. (Appendix O, pg O1) I can see how the frontage of this building suits the vision of Langford, however, I fail to see how increasing the traffic and parking congestion through the Alderglen/Southglen/Ernhill neighbourhood is best suited to the surrounding properties. Secondly, under section O1 Site Organization, subsection Guidelines we find the following: > The siting and massing of new commercial buildings on this site should be massed in a manner that is sympathetic to the local context. Buildings over four stories are not considered appropriate; (Appendix O, pg o2) If buildings over four stories are not considered appropriate, why is council considering a building proposal that is six stories in height? Thank you for your consideration. --- ### Email correspondence: RE: Department Directory - Building - Commercial development beside residence From: Robert Dykstra To: [Unnamed resident] Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2020 10:18:00 AM Hi Robert, I’ve been forwarded your email and can assist as best possible. We don’t have materials to review that discusses rights, but there will be public meetings in which you’re invited to speak to the project, voicing any concerns that you have. You may also write to us well. When a public meeting is scheduled to be held, you’ll receive notification in the mail that outlines where and when it will take place. Your best options are to speak at the meetings and/or write to us so that both the Planning Committee and City Council can be made aware of your concerns. If I can help in any other way, please let me know. Thanks, Robert --- Original web submission (sent: January 6, 2020 10:35 AM to Langford Administration General Mailbox ) - Department: Building - Topic: Commercial development beside residence Message: > Good morning. A 90 unit building (2627 Sooke Road) is to be built. I have some concerns for both my home and my street. Is there any reference material that I can review that discusses what my rights are as an affected resident. I'm mostly concerned with property value, safety, and privacy. Thank you. --- ### Letter: June 29, 2020 — Alderglen Place, Victoria, BC RE: Proposed Bylaw No. 1883 for 26278 Sooke Road (Z19-0023) To whom it may concern, In response to the Notice of Public Hearing, for the above property and bylaw amendments, as residents of the Alderglen Place and surrounding community for three years, we are writing to express our concerns with this application and proposed bylaw changes. Our main concerns are related to the parking exit from the proposed apartments onto Southglen Drive. Currently, the ‘no exit’ road from Ernhill Drive onto Southglen Drive and ending at Alderglen Place has no infrastructure in place to support this change. There are many families with young children who live in this area. These families are often seen riding bikes or scooters, playing basketball or football, and playing in the cul-de-sac and the nearby park. Opening up Southglen Drive for access to the proposed C9 complex will substantially increase the flow of traffic through the already poorly lit and unsafe roads. In poor winter conditions, like we have seen the past few years, the Ernhill Drive hill is difficult to drive up or down and would be considerably unsafe with increased use. Approval of an access point to this proposed development from Southglen Drive will not only lead to increased traffic flow, but also an increase to parking congestion. Most families in this community own more than one vehicle and one or two recreational vehicles. There is already limited street parking spaces available. The requested bylaw amendment, to decrease the number of parking stalls per unit from 2.25 to 1.25, is an unrealistic option that will leave apartment residents parking on surrounding streets and contributing further to congested streets in the surrounding area. We purchased our home in this area because we were attracted to the quiet and peaceful community. Passing this bylaw change will negatively affect the value of our home and others in our community due to the associated increased traffic and parking congestion. ### Correspondence / Public Submissions regarding 2627 Sooke Road (Bylaw No. 1883) - Resident Letters and Emails - Part 2 of 2 Source pages: 36–55 Although we fully support the growth of the city of Langford and understand the need for affordable housing, we are strongly against the proposed, new building having an access through Southglen Drive. We request that the city of Langford and the developer of the proposed C9 zone work toward another option that would leave Ernhill Drive, Southglen Drive and Alderglen Place with the same, safe and peaceful community-vibe that we fell in love with years ago. Thank you for your consideration, --- ### Email: 2627 Sooke Road Application for rezoning To: Robert Dykstra Date: Sunday, June 28, 2020 9:54:23 AM Mr. Dykstra, I live on Ernhill Drive with my husband and 2 small children. We are unable to attend the electronic town hall tomorrow, but we are strongly opposed to the rezoning application of the development at 2627 Sooke Road. There is simply not enough room for street parking, which will overflow onto Southglen and Alderglen. It is not unreasonable to assume that the vast majority of residents in the proposed condominium will have at least 1 vehicle, and an average of 1.5 is also not unreasonable to expect. Furthermore, we would like to see a left turn from Sooke road into the condominiums and no through access from our quiet streets. Ernhill has no sidewalks, barely a shoulder and many turns. The speed limit is 50km/hr and cars fly down the road. Without an improvement to infrastructure, the increase in traffic will make our quiet road feel unsafe for pedestrians, cyclists and children. Sincerely, --- ### Forwarded web message (sent: June 22, 2020 via Langford website contact form) From: langford@atomic-crayon.com (on behalf of [resident]) To: Agendas Subject: Bylaws, Council/Committee Meetings and Agendas Message (excerpt): > Dear Mr. Robert Dykstra, > I want it on record that I am opposed to the rezoning the property at 2627 Sooke Road. > Furthermore, I am opposed to the amendment of Bylaw no. 300 by means of proposed Bylaw No. 1883 which would allow the developer of said property to build in less that 1.5 parking stalls per unit with the additional .25 parking stalls set aside for visitor parking. > > After my wife passed, my daughters and I moved to [address omitted] because it was a quiet residential street. It was our dream home and I had every intention to make this residence my forever home and something that I might be able to pass on down to my daughters. This quiet street was perfect for our family home. > > In this quiet little valley are many other young families and a park that the local residence enjoy taking their young children too. > > The property at 2627 Sooke road is going to introduce 90 units to our quiet area. These means 90 families with a potential of 90 more vehicles. This is if each unit only has one vehicle. many couples have two vehicles so it is within reason to believe that this building can bring a potential 180 more vehicles to the area. Also understand that this potential number does not include visitors to the above mentioned property. > > As 2627 Sooke Road is asking for only 115 parking spots for the 90 units, there will be inadequate parking available to the future residence. With inadequate parking, the residence of the proposed 2627 Sooke road will be forced to park on side streets and will clog the narrow streets of Southglen Drive and Alderglen Place with more cars. > > With Sooke road not having a left turning lane into the property, and the proposed property only having a Right In Right Out entrance, the traffic for the proposed development will be turning left on Jacklin Road, Right on Ernhill Road and right on Southglen Drive where the proposed entrance to the property will be. This means that this quiet street will see a potential of 180 plus vehicles travelling down this road daily. Also this means congestion at the intersection of Jacklin and Sooke road as well as the traffic traffic increasing 800% down quiet streets where young children play road hockey and basket ball and ride their bikes. > > This drastic change in the landscape for the residence of Sooke Road, Ernihill Road, Southglen Drive and Alderlgen place will be immediate. This change will have a tremendous impact on our right to enjoyment of our properties. As part of the selling feature of this neighbourhood is the lack of access and the low vehicle traffic, this development will have effect the markability and therefore the value of our collective properties. > > I would like to see no access to the property at 2627 Sooke Road from Southglen, vehicle or pedestrian, in order to reduce traffic and parking on our quiet and safe streets. > > I implore the city council to deny this application as it stands. Sincerely, --- ### Email: 2627 Sooke Road (June 29, 2020 5:43:17 PM) To: Robert Dykstra Dear Robert, I am writing to signal my concern and objection regarding the proposal to open Southglen Dr for vehicle access to 2627 Sooke Rd. Southglen Drive and Earnhill lack sidewalks, and limited visibility characterize the areas’ driveways. I am concerned about the impact on parking, on pedestrians, on general safety as well as our local property values. I am writing on behalf of [name omitted] to ask that this amendment not be passed. Sincerely, --- ### Resident letter to City of Langford — "Stop Southglen Drive through traffic proposal" Recipient: City of Langford, Langford City Hall Letter: - Greetings, - Stop Southglen Drive through traffic proposal [Image 1: scanned letter — "Stop Southglen Drive through traffic proposal" (resident submission)] --- ### Additional scanned resident submissions (pages with scanned letters) [Image 2: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] [Image 3: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] [Image 4: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] [Image 5: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] [Image 6: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] [Image 7: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] [Image 8: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] [Image 9: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] [Image 10: scanned letter regarding rezoning at 2627 Sooke Road (resident submission)] ---