Staff Report to Special Council — Proposed Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw Amendment No. 28

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of this report is to present the proposed omnibus amendments to the City’s “Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw No. 1000, 2009” (Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw) to Council for consideration.

The proposed amending bylaw:

• Removes and updates outdated references to legislation and bylaws.
• Incorporates references to the adopted Transportation Master Plan and Active Transportation Plan.
• Replaces the outdated road cross-sections and related tables with one standard Typical Road X-Section and key minimum requirements for road rights-of-way and road cross-sections.
• Modifies the City’s use of the Master Municipal Construction Document to further the implementation of the City’s Low Carbon Concrete Policy.
• Clarifies requirements for works to be done as part of subdivision approval, including electrical systems and street lighting, road crown grades, and maximum driveway widths.
• Updates requirements for stormwater management infrastructure to reflect industry best practices, erosion and sediment control plans, and updated technical details.
• Revises Schedule 10 Irrigation Standards to clarify requirements and improve formatting, ensuring current industry standards and designs are reflected in the bylaw and to promote smart technology promoting water efficiency and conservation.
• Updates, removes, or adds technical drawings related to boulevard and street landscaping, and irrigation.
• Further changes as outlined in the commentary section of this report.

Overall, these amendments complete key objectives and support Council’s 2023-2027 Strategic Plan, including sustainable development, climate change and environmental stewardship, transportation, and good governance.

BACKGROUND

The City’s Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw governs the subdivision of land in the City and establishes the technical standards and requirements for the design and construction of infrastructure and municipal services that must be provided in connection with new developments. The bylaw has been regularly amended since it was adopted in 2009, including through housekeeping amendments and changes to ensure technical requirements are up to date and reflect current industry standards and designs.

In November 2021, the City adopted a Low Carbon Concrete Policy (POL-0167-PLAN). Amended in March 2023, the Low Carbon Concrete Policy requires all concrete supplied to City-owned or solicited projects, and private construction projects greater than 50 cubic metres, to be produced using post-industrial carbon dioxide mineralization technologies, or an equivalent which offers concrete with lower embodied carbon dioxide.

In July 2026, Council adopted the City’s first Transportation Master Plan and Active Transportation Plan. Key objectives and strategies from these plans have already been incorporated into the Official Community Plan.

COMMENTARY

The proposed bylaw contains the following amendments to the Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw:

Updating Outdated References to Legislation and Bylaws

The proposed bylaw:

• removes or updates outdated references to the Local Government Act;
• updates the definition of “Community Plan” to reference the current “Langford Official Community Plan Bylaw 2200, 2025”; and
• updates reference from the Engineers and Geoscientists Act to the Professional Governance Act.

The Local Government Act underwent a statute revision in 2016 which reorganized and renumbered the sections of the Act. In February 2021, the Professional Governance Act replaced the Engineers and Geoscientists Act as the statute governing professional engineers and geoscientists in the province. While the Interpretation Act ensures that these changes in legislation do not impact the validity of City bylaws, updating legislation references promotes good governance by correctly identifying which acts and regulations apply.

Schedule 1 – Procedures and Fees

The proposed bylaw amends this schedule to clarify the implication of the Director of Engineering issuing construction acceptance for works and services under the Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw. Construction acceptance is defined in the bylaw and can be issued as an alternative to substantial performance, but both have the same implications in terms of the City assuming ownership of the subject works and services.

Schedule 2 – General Requirements

The proposed bylaw amends this schedule by clarifying that the owner of land proposed for subdivision or development must provide electrical systems and street lighting at their own expense, in addition to the other assets listed, on the lands or highways immediately adjacent to the lands being subdivided or developed.

Schedule 3 – Earthworks

The proposed bylaw clarifies the requirements for building retaining walls, and rock cuts or fill slopes requiring stabilization measures.

Schedule 4 – Road Design and Construction

The proposed bylaw amends this schedule by:

• clarifying maximum driveway widths;
• updating the name of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to the Ministry of Transportation and Transit;
• updating reference from the previous Bylaw 33 permit to the new Street Construction Permit under the City’s “Streets and Traffic Bylaw No. 2233, 2025”; and
• adding a drawing and key specifications for road cross-sections and rights-of-way requirements in-line with the newly adopted Transportation Master Plan and Active Transportation Plan.

Schedule 5 – Storm Water Management

The City retained Colquitz Engineering (Colquitz) to review and update Schedule 5 which covers storm water management. The proposed amendments to this schedule are primarily housekeeping items or changes to reflect practises that are already being implemented by consultants and contractors but have not yet been formally incorporated into the bylaw.

These changes include:

• clarification for catch basin installation and frames;
• updated headwall installation details;
• new erosion and sediment control plan requirements;
• new requirements for trench dams for pipes on steep slopes; and
• updated floodplain storage volume requirements for construction within the 200-year floodplain.

As part of this work, Colquitz also reviewed the City’s intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves as shown in drawing SD-3. An IDF curve is a graph that shows the relationship between rainfall intensity, storm duration, and the statistical frequency of rainfall events, and assists in designing stormwater infrastructure to handle expected rainfall conditions. This included reviewing rainfall data from 15 rain gauges in Langford and Greater Victoria.

The review concluded that the current IDF curves may err on the side of caution. Most of the rain gauges within the City’s boundary have less than 20 years of data. For this reason, it is recommended that the current IDF curves be maintained, with a review in 10 years, once more data is available.

Schedule 10 – Irrigation Standards

The proposed bylaw includes a rewritten Schedule 10 which covers irrigation standards. Most of the content is ported over from the current bylaw but is rewritten to clarify requirements and improve formatting. The new schedule ensures current industry standards and designs are reflected in the bylaw, and includes the use of smart technology, promoting water efficiency and conservation.

Schedule 11 – Supplements to MMCD

Schedule 11 includes additions and modifications to the Master Municipal Construction Document (MMCD), such as technical drawings and design specifications that differ from the MMCD.

The proposed bylaw contains several housekeeping amendments, updates to some technical standards and requirements to align with current industry standards, and builds on the City’s Low Carbon Concrete Policy by implementing modifications to achieve two goals:

1. To allow Ready-Mix suppliers to comply with the City’s Low Carbon Concrete Policy.
2. To help contractors avoid concrete surface scaling issues, which have become increasingly frequent in recent years.

Other updates include technical drawings for boulevard and street landscaping and irrigation and the removal of obsolete drawings.

Schedule 14 – Boulevard Landscape Standards

This schedule contains requirements for landscaping works on City boulevards.

The proposed bylaw:

• clarifies the scope of the Director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities’ discretion to require cash-in-lieu for boulevard trees that cannot be accommodated, and to require an arborists report and tree survey for existing or significant boulevard trees to be retained in accordance with the Tree Protection Bylaw;
• clarifies that new coniferous trees are no longer accepted on boulevards and provides that acceptable trees are included in the Approved Species List;
• explicitly references the Tree Protection Bylaw’s requirements for tree protection barriers;
• clarifies the scope of required maintenance of off-site landscaping; and
• states that final acceptance of landscaping will not be issued between November 1st and April 1st where there are boulevard trees or irrigation systems.

Other Amendments

In addition to the amendments already discussed, the proposed bylaw includes a new Appendix A which is easier to read and use compared to the current Appendix A.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no known financial implications associated with this report.

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

Pursuant to the Local Government Act, subdivision applications already underway with the City will not be impacted by this amendment for 12 months after bylaw adoption.

STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT

1 - Sustainable Development.
2 - Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship.
5 - Good Governance.

OPTIONS

Option 1

THAT Council give first, second and third reading to “Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw No. 1000, Amendment No. 28, Bylaw No. 2158, 2026”.

OR Option 2

THAT Council take no action with respect to the proposed “Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw No. 1000, Amendment No. 28, Bylaw No. 2158, 2026”.

SUBMITTED BY

Richard Wagner, Policy Analyst and Legislative Drafter

Concurrence:
Melisa Miles, Manager of Legislative Services

Concurrence:
Yari Nielsen, Director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities

Concurrence:
Leah Stohmann, RPP, MCIP, Director of Community Planning and Development

Concurrence:
Katelyn Balzer, P.Eng., Director of Engineering and Public Works

Concurrence:
Michael Dillabaugh, CPA, CA, Director of Finance

Concurrence:
Marie Watmough, Director of Legislative & Protective Services

Concurrence:
Braden Hutchins, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer

Concurrence:
Darren Kiedyk, Chief Administrative Officer

Attachments

• Attachment 1 – Proposed “Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw, Amendment No. 28, Bylaw No. 2158, 2026”
• Attachment 2 – Redline “Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw No. 1000, 2009”