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“In 2003, the Home Depot development application in the City of Courtenay was to build a store and parking lot covering 90% of a four hectare second growth coniferous forest property,” stated Kevin Lagan. “The City required that post-development rainwater and stormwater flows leaving the site were equal to or less than the pre-development flows. For this property that was effectively zero.”

“When the previous General Manager of Engineering retired in 2011, our Chief Administrative Officer listened when I presented the case for doing both jobs – Engineering and Community Development,” stated Ramin Seifi. “The Township needed more integration to respond to the demands on infrastructure and the risks to the environment resulting from rapid population growth. Achieving integration depended on the Township having a better structure.”

For the past decade, Township staff have been learning and adapting, and their hands-on experience is reflected in HOW implementation of Langley’s rain garden program has evolved in successive development areas. “We are learning by doing. In this way, we refine expectations for the finished product. The designs are more refined and the level of coordination for rain garden design and construction has improved,” explained Yolanda Yeung.

“Once we know what we want our watersheds and neighbourhoods to look like, the next step is to decide what the tools are that will get us there. All of us need to understand and care about the goal if we are to create the future that we all want,” stated Vincent Lalonde.

“The Showcasing Innovation Series is a provincial pilot. When we talk to practitioners in local government, it doesn’t matter what the region, the message is the same…they tell us that they are too busy to communicate with their colleagues in neighbouring municipalities. Yet the irony is that there is much to learn by sharing information with each other. At the end of the day, it seems that it takes a third party to bring people together,” said Paul Ham.

“The goal was to build regional capacity through sharing of green infrastructure approaches, experiences and lessons learned as an outcome of ‘designing with nature’. The pilot series was a building block process – each time the objective was to raise the bar when celebrating successes,” states Ray Fung.

“The program goal is to build regional capacity through sharing of green infrastructure approaches, experiences and lessons learned as an outcome of ‘designing with nature'. The program was launched in May 2006 in the Greater Vancouver region as a provincial pilot ,” stated Kim Stephens.

At the third and final event in the 2008 Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation Series, Councillor Vic Derman of the District of Saanich elaborated on his vision for The Natural City. He posed the question: “What do we want this place to look like in 50 years, and how will we get from here to there?”

“The Routley, Yorkson and Northeast Gordon neighbourhood communities illustrate how a ‘water-centric’ approach is changing the way that land is developed in Langley. Each neighbourhood features a different green innovation,” stated Ramin Seifi.

“The tour was first-rate as we were able to provide a casual setting in the midst of a nice blend of research, practicality and on the ground implementation. As the Green Infrastructure tours have already proven it is not until people actually get out into the field, look at things and “kick the tires” that the momentum of change really begins,” stated Richard Boase.