Our neighbouring community of Langford has had the same Mayor, Stewart Young, for 32 years. Several councillors have served from near inception of Langford in 1992. That’s an impressive track record of experience and makes for a Council that deeply understand their community and likely work well as a team.
Langford has consistently been ranked as one of the best communities in British Columbia, taking a broad ranking of community factors (see here) while North Cowichan ranks in the bottom half of the 50 communities surveyed. North Cowichan too, has had, consistency in its Council and politics. John Lefebve was a three term Mayor, before the recent term for Al Siebring, and drove a decidedly left leaning set of policies. The last election saw a wholesale takeover by a slate decidedly activist Councillors.
The result? A projected 25% (or so) tax increase over the next five years. (see here)
The upcoming election presents an opportunity for change (see here). Koury, along with Joyce Behnsen, Mike Caljouw, Bruce Findlay and Charles Borg, will bring us reasonable development, pro-housing, pro-solution, focussed, and competent leadership. These candidates have real world experience, real world common sense.
So we will be deciding our future as a community. Do we continue the slide to complete mediocrity? Or do we take a chance to build a vibrant community with housing for everyone, enough jobs for those that want to stay, an abundance ion services for everyone, and the resources to save our local environment?
It’s our choice and we will reap what we sow.
Some folks want to develop like Langford, a 40sq km “City”, entirely within an Urban Containment Boundary (UCB) so designated in the Capital Regional District’s adopted Regional Growth Strategy. (save small pockets of environmentally protected areas) All of Langford is zoned commercial and/or residential, an agreed upon bedroom ‘bedroom’ community to greater Victoria.
North Cowichan by comparison is a 195 sq km “District” Municipality, whose Urban Containment Boundary (UCB), features unique small towns and neighbourhoods with needed services and commercial businesses close by. The land base is made up of approx 5000 hectares of ALR land and 5000 of Municipal Forest reserve. 40 kms of ocean front, a couple of rivers and estuaries, a number of lakes and streams, creeks, wetland and marshland that are habitat, and it becomes clear that the core areas with services are the wisest places to develop which has the added benefit of keeping our rural character. We are fortunate to have that option. If you look at the Capital Regional District, they have done much the same, Saanich – lots of Agriculture, Highlands and Metchosin more like our own rural areas the other areas, Oak Bay, View Royal etc. similar to our small towns, only scaled to the capital’s population and land mass.