LangfordB次元官网网址檚 mayor and council imposed a moratorium on rezonings north of the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) five years ago.

The rationale given at the time was to halt growth so as not to overload the Millstream connector overpass.

It was explained at that time that until the proposed Spencer Road interchange, correctly called B次元官网网址淭he Bridge to Nowhere,B次元官网网址� was constructed along with the completion of the Bear Mountain Parkway, increased density with its accompanying vehicular traffic would cause significant congestion, and that this was not acceptable for the citizens north of the TCH. (The reality is that the completion of the Bear Mountain Parkway is critical primarily for the continuation of future phases of the Bear Mountain and the rezoned Skirt Mountain developments.)

Five years have passed and this mayor and councilB次元官网网址檚 philosophy of force feeding rezoning and development in our community is not only turning into a fiasco but polarizing our community.

Now their solution and accompanying rationale is to lift the moratorium to eventually flood the streets with more vehicles north of the TCH, hoping the inconvenience this will cause its citizens to help convince the federal and provincial governments to assist with the funding to upgrade the Millstream interchange, and not the Spencer interchange that they so aggressively argued five years ago as being the solution to managing traffic north of the TCH.

The recent ill-conceived solutions proposed by the mayor and council has only left me feeling that their shell games are just beginning.

To top it off, the mayor is using the tax hike explanation to justify his decision to lift the moratorium. He states that the tax hikes in the past two years have been 3.9 and 3.65 per cent respectively.

Our general municipal tax (the portion that goes directly to the municipality) increased this year by 15.5 per cent and our overall taxes have increased by 19.4 per cent.

There is no question that the mayor and council in Langford have provided its citizens with significant amenities over the years. However, the chickens are coming home to roost. Langford residents, hide your wallets.

Ian Phillips

Langford