Colwood Creek Ratepayers

Veterans Memorial Area of Colwood Creek Park

Community Gardens – Background and Outcome

Colwood Creek Ratepayers Association

Facts, impacts, how to participate

This page is preserved as an archive of the Community Gardens proposal and its outcome

June 10, 2026 Colwood Garden Society withdrew proposal

Ratepayers, let us know if you didn’t get an email from us today

To read our submissions to Colwood, go here

Colwood Creek Park is not a vacant lot waiting to be developed

Today…

Veterans Memorial Area of Colwood Creek Park
A park valued for unprogrammed recreation

Who does it serve? The neighbourhood, the rest of Colwood, and visitors.

What Was Proposed…

A major change to the park

Source: https://colwoodgardensociety.org/colwood-creek-park-garden-hub/

Who would the proposal have served? The Colwood Garden Society which states its membership is

50% Colwood

50% Langford

Protect Colwood Creek Park

Follow the Park Management Plan

Pause, Review, Consult

Often out of sight, working at night, we’ve been busy, as public input sent to the City of Colwood shows. See here.

We encourage you to read this and other material which points to resources. We hope one or two points resonate with you, and you add your voice. Attend a meeting (possibly speak for 2 minutes), be visible, write a letter to City Hall. Calls and emails are OK but less effective.

What Was Up?

A major community garden hub was proposed for Colwood Creek Park between Veterans Memorial Parkway, Brittany Drive, and Antrobus Crescent, with up to 150 plots. Nearby residents first started a petition, then on May 15, 2026, the Colwood Creek Ratepayers Association was formed.

Since we formed, City staff asked the proponent to also diagram a layout opposite the off-street parking lot on Sunridge Valley Drive. Such a site would be even closer to large residences in Langford and even farther from densely populated areas of Colwood. There was no evidence that the residents of Colwood’s interests would be well served by such an arrangement, and it was not something that the Colwood Creek Ratepayers could support. We didn’t believe that a large community garden should be placed anywhere in Colwood Creek Park.

Founder and interim President Hilary Mackey lives and gardens on Antrobus Crescent. Anyone residing in the Colwood Creek neighbourhood is welcome to join. We’re just getting started, so watch for impossible-to-miss T-shirts, or email info@colwoodcreekratepayers.ca to join.

Tell us as much as you’re comfortable: Name, address (and postal code), email address, and phone number. We won’t share your personal information outside the group. To contact you, we need an email address or phone number, but if you want it kept private (really limited sharing), let us know.

We formed due to the community garden proposal and were focussed on it. We like our neighbours so much, and continue to actively discussing other neighbourhood issues. We’ll stick together listening and watching, reading and talking as long as we can!

With an election this fall, it’s a great time to learn about your City and how municipal government works! Everyone’s entitled to opinions, and we have some, but our main focus is to find facts, share them, and act. We’re stronger together.

Why Residents Were Concerned

Simply put, after lots of reading and thought, we didn’t believe that a very large community garden should be placed anywhere in Colwood Creek Park. There were innumerable reasons for our conclusion. Traffic, parking, and safety are recurrent themes because the off-street parking by Sunridge Valley only holds 20 cars, and every dog person wouldn’t just stay away so gardeners could move in. Our three main roads on one side of Colwood Creek all meet near the path to the site pitched to Council on April 13th where up to (at last count) 133 gardeners might go to beds.

The Official Community Plan allows a community garden in any park, but the priority is placement in densely populated neighbourhoods. As we saw it, except for the gardeners (many of whom are not residents), it was a lose/lose proposition: Not only would this neighbourhood have got something it didn’t need, but neighbourhoods that should get community gardens, would not. And the Colwood Creek Park Management Plan specifically indicates that amenities shouldn’t be added to the Veterans Memorial area because of the proximity to residences.

That’s the short version!

Timeline

Based on Council minutes and other public documents

  • Jun 2, 2025 — Presentation by Ryan Campeau, Parks Lead, Capital to the Parks and Environment Committee. Discussion of Background and History of the Agricultural Land Commission, Land Use in the Agricultural Land Reserve, and Financial Considerations. (p. 16 of 481 here.)
  • Oct 14, 2025 — Parking management update (72‑hour limit, 2‑vehicle household limit). A motion to implement came to Council in June.
  • Oct 27, 2025 — Presentation by Kathy McLennan, Director of Finance, to Committee of the Whole on the Growing Community Grant funding. Discussion re Remainder of funding to be spent by March 2028, Allocation of unused funding to alternative areas, Park projects and needed amenities, and Input from residents for a community garden. COTW recommended pivot for works on Colwood Creek Park to Oceanview Park and Herm Williams Park and deferred Growing Communities Fund consideration. (Item 5.2 here)

“Input from residents for a community garden” surprised me, as I’d missed it. Moreover, Minutes show there were no written submissions and nobody spoke to give public input. So what was “input from residents for a community garden” referencing?

  • Dec 8, 2025 — ALR discussion; Council directs staff to apply for partial exclusion
  • Apr 13, 2026 — Garden Hub proposal presented; Council supports “in principle”
  • May 5, 2026 — $98K grant announced
  • May 14, 2026 — Colwood Garden Society Information and Planning Meeting
  • June 8, 2026 — Council meeting at 6:30 pm
  • June 22, 2026 — Council meeting at 6:30 pm

Who to Contact

Your voice matters. Council and staff are actively reviewing the proposal.

How to Participate

The City of Colwood offers many resources. We have direct links below, or you can look around at Colwood.ca

  • Submit written comments (email or mail)
  • Subscribe for updates
  • Attend meetings
  • Register to speak electronically
  • Watch the livestream
  • Be part of the Colwood Creek Ratepayers Association

Parking Rules Near the Park

A concise summary of the most relevant rules from Traffic & Highway Regulation Bylaw 1134:

It’s a big book, but particularly pertinent to residential areas are: parking is to be within 30 cm (12 in) of the curb; no blocking sidewalks or footpaths; and parking is prohibited within 6 m from intersections, 6 m before stop signs, 5 m from hydrants, 1.5 m from driveways, and within 1 m of another vehicle.

Documents & Sources

Information on this site is sourced from publicly available documents:

  • Council minutes, agendas, and submissions
  • Staff reports
  • ALC reports
  • Colwood Garden Society proposal
  • Traffic and Highway Regulation Bylaw 1134
  • Colwood Creek Park Management Plan
  • Media releases
  • Resident fact sheet

Neighbourhood Voices

Our plan? Find facts and share resources first. A space for letters, observations, photos, and resident perspectives was a lower priority, but as we’ve written letters, we’re sharing them. The next meeting is on Monday, June 8th, and if an issue isn’t on the agenda, you can still talk for up to two minutes during public input or contact the City in other ways at any time.

Care to share? Email webmaster@colwoodcreekratepayers.ca

PS – Wear your T-shirt! Need one? They were her bright idea, and Hilary needs to hear from you at president@colwoodcreekratepayers.ca.

Public Input Documents

*Some agenda packages are very large (> 500 MB), slow to load, and hard to navigate. Use information provided to locate the specific item on a particular page.