The City of Langford has acquired a 13-acre parcel of land on Sooke Lake Road near the former Ma Miller’s Pub for a new park.
The city says the $5 million to buy the land from the Capital Regional District and its Regional Water Supply Commission is coming from developer cost charges, paid by developers to municipalities for community amenities.
When the transaction is finalized in January, the property will become Langford’s 139th park. Proposed uses for the site include baseball fields, a children’s water park and a playground.
The land has not been used for CRD operations since 2017 and is considered surplus to its needs. It is zoned residential and was previously used for industrial purposes, such as a source for gravel and construction fill.
Langford Mayor Stew Young said Langford council has been trying to acquire the land for the last 30 years, about the length of time he has been in municipal office. “It literally was talked about when I first got in.”
It is a coveted spot because it is a large, flat area, “which you can’t get in Langford anymore,” Young said. “It’ll be good for the neighbourhood. It’s going to be a huge asset for Langford.”
Langford is the fastest-growing city in B.C. and the third-fastest in Canada — its population increased from 34,342 in 2016 to 46,584 in 2021, a jump of 31.8 per cent — and recreation facilities have not kept up with demand.
A covenant on the land will limit its future use to community parks and recreation purposes.
Regional Water Supply Commission chairwoman Lillian Szpak said the money from the sale of the land will go toward construction of a new watershed office facility in the Goldstream area.
Langford has applied for a $6-million grant from the Canada Community Building Fund, administered through the Union of B.C. Municipalities, to assist with improvement costs for the park. The municipality plans to invest another $1.8 million, as well.
A public-consultation session on the park’s future is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Eagle Ridge Arena in City Centre Park, 1089 Langford Parkway, as part of an open house on recreation issues for the next five years.
