Correspondence / Staff Reply — Matthew Baldwin (RE: Zoning Amendment Notice Z21-0020)

From: Matthew Baldwin

Sent: September 7, 2021 12:52 PM
To: LARA ALLSOPP; Marie Watmough
Cc: Trina Cruikshank; Julia Buckingham
Subject: RE: Zoning Amendment Notice Z21-0020 - Please provide specific change requests

Good afternoon Ms. Allsopp,

Thank you for your recent email.

The notification procedure for Council’s Planning Zoning and Affordable Housing Committee establishes a reasonable radius for notification. It certainly does not preclude you from participating in the discussion around this rezoning. We hope that people will also notice the sign that we post on the property and the advertisement in the paper which will occur before Public Hearing.

Regarding your concerns about electricity, I cannot confirm what BC Hydro has told you, but I am not aware that Westhills sought or obtained a variance from the City’s Subdivision and Development Servicing Standards with respect to underground v. overhead wiring. As your concerns about a safe, continuous supply of electricity and how it may affect your job and patient health, I would suggest speaking with your employer and ask them to address this issue directly with BC Hydro. The City does not supply electricity, nor do we maintain the electrical infrastructure.

I feel that I also have to address your claim that Westhills has “already destroyed most of our 40% mandated greenspace of ‘natural forest’ and walking trails”. This statement is simply false. We will provide you with the staff report that we have prepared for next Monday’s Planning Zoning and Affordable Housing Committee on this Friday afternoon, and you will see that much of the discussion revolves around how Westhills will dedicate to the City as Park, much of the 40% open space that is required by the zoning. Some of these lands, such as Parkdale Hill will be directly beneficial to you, due to their proximity to your home.

I trust that this information is helpful.

Sincerely,

Matthew Baldwin, MCIP, RPP
Director of Planning and Subdivision

250.474.6919

From: LARA ALLSOPP

Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 12:22 PM
To: Marie Watmough mwatmough@langford.ca
Cc: Langford Planning General Mailbox planning@langford.ca; Matthew Baldwin mbaldwin@langford.ca
Subject: Re: Zoning Amendment Notice Z21‐0020 ‐ Please provide specific change requests

Hi,

Thank you but for the Westhills the re‐zoning affects all of us. For example they did the re‐zoning without telling us, to allow the developers to build above ground hydro lines in the middle of trees along WSP, which now creates havoc for us left without power for 24‐36 Hours in the middle of winter every year with no heat.

I run all the computers in all hospitals in BC and we are now mandated to work from home. The last power outage meant I was unable to deal with a hospital emergency in FHA when their servers went down taking out the NICU. These yearly outages now impact my ability to provide emergency patient care.

I bought in Westhills in 2009 because BCHydro engineers said the subdivision would be entirely underground on its own grid.

As for the changes they already destroyed most of our 40% mandated greenspace of “natural forest” and walking trails when they clear‐cut the forest for concrete bike jumps. Now residents have no access to leisure walks through the woods that we used to do.

We are all concerned they are going to remove even more greenspace.

Cheers,
Lara

From: Marie Watmough mwatmough@langford.ca

Sent: September 7, 2021 10:01 AM
To: Lara Allsopp
Subject: (reply)

Good morning Ms. Allsop,

Thank you for your email. The lands for which the rezoning is being sought are those portions of lands within the Westhills area which have not been developed, not the whole of Westhills. The City sends out notices to those owners of properties within 100 m of the property(ies) for which the application has been made, as required by the City of Langford Public Notification Procedures Bylaw. In your case, you are outside of this zone and therefore will not have received notice. This item is scheduled to be on the Agenda for the Planning and Zoning Committee meeting on Monday September 13. The agenda package will be available on our website this Friday afternoon and will include all the information being presented to the committee.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Regards,

Marie Watmough
Acting Director of Corporate Services

250.391.3447

From: Lara Allsopp

Sent: September 3, 2021 9:55 PM
To: Langford Planning General Mailbox planning@langford.ca; Marie Watmough mwatmough@langford.ca
Subject: Zoning Amendment Notice Z21‐0020 ‐ Please provide specific change requests
Importance: High

Hi,

I am one of the first 6 residents to reside in Westhills and yet I appear to be absent from the Meeting Notice mailing list with regards to Westhills re‐zoning.

Can I please be added to the mailing list. 1196 Parkdale Creek Gdns, Victoria, BC V9B 4G9

It appears that there was an Zoning change meeting notice sent out Z21‐0020 to some Westhills Residents (but not all) that does not appear on the City Hall Public Notices, nor on your planning committee website links.

The Proposed Zoning is to “make various changes to the Westhills Zone and Master Development Agreement” and yet there was nothing included in the letter as to what specifically the changes were to entail. I have read and studied both documents fully (attached) and we as Westhills residents in our Westhills residents group would like to know specifically and exactly which wording in the attached documents has been requested to be changed.

Can you please upload the required specific documents to the Public Notices with the exact wording so that we know what changes the developer wants to make.

https://www.langford.ca/city‐hall/public‐notices/ No reference to Z21‐0020

https://www.langford.ca/city‐hall/planning‐zoning‐and‐affordable‐housing‐committee/ No reference to Z21‐0020

Cheers,
Lara Allsopp

1196 Parkdale Creek Gdns, Victoria, BC V9B 4G9

“This is our time to be kind, to be calm and to be safe” Dr Bonnie Henry

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