Langford is changing fast.

Landscapes are being remade before our very eyes. Right now, there is a development application for a property on the corner of Jacklin and Dunford - a pair of towers with no height limit and high density. In five short weeks this application has gone from an initial presentation to one step away from being approved. While there’s much to say about that, this is about the mature trees that line the properties of the proposed site. With that final approval – pending no public outcry – these trees and all that they provide will be gone.

On the corner stands a mighty Arbutus - Canada’s only native broadleaf evergreen and a species protected in many surrounding municipalities - that has grown to epic proportions. The tree stands sentinel overlooking the changing landscape of Langford - not far from the location of the new Station Avenue market and the E&N rail trail - and could stand sentinel for many decades, maybe centuries to come, if not for this development.

A timekeeper.
A place marker.
The heart and lungs of Langford.

City of Langford, show us your heart; make this tree a signpost for where epic happens. Please listen to the citizens you’ve been elected to serve and make protecting this grandmother Arbutus a condition of the development permit.