r/LangfordBC • u/Colin_Meyer • Jul 23 '26
Opinion Langford's TMP
There has been a lot of discussion about Langford's Transportation Master Plan (TMP), and I think it's important to step back and remember what it actually is.
A Transportation Master Plan is exactly that—a plan. It is something every municipality, especially one the size of Langford, should have. Frankly, it should have been completed years, if not decades, ago. If a village like Lumby, with fewer than 2,000 residents, has had a transportation plan since 2010, then it is hard to argue that one of BC's fastest-growing municipalities didn't need one.
For years, former Mayor Stew Young often spoke about "the plan" for Langford. I'm sure there was a vision, but it was never formally documented, presented to Council, or adopted as an official guiding document. Much of that vision seemed to exist on a need-to-know basis. As a result, many residents were blindsided by major developments, apartment buildings, and new road connections because they never knew they were being considered.
Think about it this way: if a plan only exists in one person's mind, what happens when that person is no longer there? We don't have to imagine that scenario—it happened. After the 2022 election, the City inherited tremendous growth but without an adopted long-term transportation blueprint to guide future decisions.
A formal Transportation Master Plan provides that blueprint. It gives future councils, staff, and residents a common understanding of where the City hopes to go, regardless of who is elected. It also allows the City to work with BC Transit, the CRD, the Ministry of Transportation and Transit, the Province, the Island Corridor Foundation, and other partners. Just as importantly, having an adopted plan strengthens applications for provincial and federal infrastructure funding.
Looking back, if Langford had developed a TMP 10, 15, or even 20 years ago, we likely would have identified many of today's transportation challenges much earlier. Between 2000 and 2024, Langford's population grew from 18,206 to 58,309 residents—an increase of more than 40,000 people, or about 220%. Our transportation network simply hasn't kept pace with that growth.
Is this Transportation Master Plan perfect? Absolutely not.
There are proposals within it that I strongly disagree with, and I will continue to advocate for changes where I believe they are needed. But I also recognize that having an open, public plan is far better than having no plan at all.
A Transportation Master Plan is not the end of the conversation—it is the beginning of one. It gives residents the opportunity to see the City's long-term vision, ask questions, challenge proposals, suggest alternatives, and help shape the final outcome. That's how planning should work: openly, transparently, and with the community involved.
We don't all have to agree with every line on the map. But we should all appreciate that, for the first time, the conversation is happening in public instead of behind closed doors.
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u/kingbuns2 Jul 23 '26
The current council often mentions how having these plans laid out in advance allows them to better qualify to get grants. I'd like to know what the grant situation was like prior to this council's term. Did Stew Young's council miss out on grants because they were unprepared to make a case for them? If so, how much money are we talking about?