Langford to host an Ideas Fair as part of its push for public engagement

After an intense campaign for public input around Let’s Chat Langford last summer and into 2025, Langford continues to promote public consultation.

In its latest efforts, the City of Langford is inviting residents and community members to participate in an Ideas Fair on Saturday, March 15, from 11am to 2pm.

The fair at the Langford Legion (761 Station Avenue) will let the public contribute ideas, share feedback, and engage in conversations with city staff, counselors and subject-matter experts. 

In its media release, the city emphasized the fair event is not just a uni-directional presentation of facts and information, but will encourage residents to ask questions. 

The fair will focus on community planning initiatives and current master plans that are in development, including the Transportation Master Plan (TMP), Active Transportation Plan (ATP), and the Parks and Trails Master Plan. 

The Transportation Master Plan (TMP) and Active Transportation Plan (ATP) are designed to guide the long-term development of Langford’s transportation networks. Their key aims are to reduce congestion and improve connectivity within the city. The ATP focuses on enhancing opportunities for walking, cycling, and other forms of human-powered transportation. 

Once it is complete, the Parks and Trails Master Plan will evaluate the current state of Langford’s parks and trails, and ensure essential public spaces remain safe, accessible and serve residents and visitors effectively. The plan will identify opportunities for additional park acquisitions, trail enhancements, and other improvements. 

The master plans being discussed at the Ideas Fair are part of Langford’s aim to ensure that the city is equipped to handle its rapid future growth. According to its Official Community Plan, its population is expected to increase to 100K residents by 2050.

A focus on consultation

Voter concerns about public input proved to be one of the biggest factors in the city's last municipal election. 

One critic of Langford’s former mayor Stewart Young argued that “he had lost touch with the electors. There was little to no consideration for the opinions of the public, if they ever got the chance to be heard.” The current city council, which swept to power at Young's expense, has been anxious to flip that perception.

“I've heard a lot of gratitude from people who appreciate the City is trying new ways to hear from more residents,” Colby Harder told the Westshore “and I'd argue our survey participation numbers reflect that!”

In its Oct. 2024 Phase I Engagement Summary report, the city says 3,260 residents had visited the Let’s Chat Langford site and 404 had responded to the city’s  “A Shared Vision for 100,000” survey. Over 600 attended five in-person public engagement events that took place between July 18 and Aug. 21.

A hub for dialogue on key community plans

Attendees can discuss the three plans not just with city planners but expands to experts in transportation, parks, and active transportation. The three plans could significantly impact Langford's future infrastructure and quality of life.

In addition to Langford’s transportation and parks plans, the West Shore Parks and Recreation Society (based in Colwood) will be hosting a public engagement opportunity at the event, gathering input on its Facilities Master Plan.

The West Shore Parks and Recreation Society (WSPRS) governs and operates several indoor and outdoor recreation facilities on behalf of the municipalities in the region, including Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Metchosin, and Highlands. WSPR’s board of directors are representatives from those municipalities and each of those municipalities contributes to the operation of West Shore parks and recreation facilities through tax requisition.

Some of the many facilities the Society oversees include the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, the Q Centre, Juan de Fuca Par 3 Golf Course, and BMX and the Greater Victoria velodrome.

The city of Langford bought the Westhills YW/MCA in December, a move it made after a considerable number of public input and engagement sessions.  That facility does not fall under the purview of WSPRS, but the purchase will potentially impact users of the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre. 

At stake at both facilities will be managing capacity, service and programming provision and the burden of operational costs–a matter that directly impacts taxpayers. The same is true of  decisions to acquire new park land to build new amenities or repair old ones. It’s for this reason that transportation, parks and facilities planning stakes are so high and so personal. 

Prior to the Ideas Fair, the WSPR will also be hosting an information booth on Thursday evening from 6-8pm at Metchosin school.

Family-friendly and accessible 

The Ideas Fair will be accessible for all ages. There will be a dedicated area where kids can participate in activities while their parents and community members discuss planning issues. Light refreshments will also be available. 

As a staff-led event, Wagner said there will be people from different departments to listen and answer questions on the different plans. 

She recognises that in-person engagement and online engagement interest different people and the need to appeal to as broad a group as possible on future decisions she and her colleagues make on their behalf is important. 

"It’s always a challenge to get people excited about filling out a survey or spending their Saturday looking at a poster of a concept that might go into a plan, but it’s so important for us as a city to hear from as many people as possible—no two people are alike!”

Giving online feedback

The city’s online engagement platform hosts three key surveys designed by Expedition Consulting for residents to share their thoughts on the plans. 

The Ideas Fair will take place on Saturday, March 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Langford Legion (761 Station Avenue).

• The Transportation Master Plan and Active Transportation Plan surveys will be open until April 2, 2025.

• The Parks and Trails Master Plan survey will be open until April 13, 2025

• The West Shore Parks & Recreation Facilities Master Plan survey will be open until March 17, 2025.

Link to the Let’s Chat Langford where residents can register to receive all three surveys.