Money moves mountains. Or votes, or permits, or bylaws, or DPAs, or property lines, or shoreline, or something. Maybe also mountains depending on the type of development that is being pursued (we’ve all seen the blasted bedrock under new developments.)
People and companies don’t financially support organizations unless it’s also profitable to them. Money and power, or money is power, or something like that.
It’s also well understood that people financially support their own interests. On a personal level you may see this as one family supporting a food bank financially and another supporting a youth sports fundraiser. We also support different political parties based on our personal priorities. Federally and provincially we see lobbying groups channel money towards politicians to support legislation in the lobbying group's interest.
Municipally it gets a little murkier, a little more small town, less lobbying coded. Financial support is often and misleadingly heralded as only a personal values alignment, separate from profit and industry. That idea is used as a social buffer between financial gain and political support. But the idealism of finances indicating only personal support breaks down a little bit when you look at the people and companies and developers, especially in Langford and Sooke.
A development company’s values are most likely going to align with a candidate who values ... development opportunities. Behind a development company is a person, or a board, or workers who stand to benefit, often financially. This is the nature of lobbying, regardless of how small scale and personal the support.
The companies behind the growth
Using a lens of relevance to Sooke, Langford has a few companies that were acting in the best interests of the sprawl that we recognize today. It was really accelerated by a few larger developers, alongside smaller companies. Keycorp, owned and led by veteran builder Jim Hartshorne, has a spread of projects throughout Langford, and partners heavily with Verity Construction, headed by Chad Bryden. S001S025
Other developers include the Westhills Land Corp, owned by the Stewart brothers with a lot of its development managed by Keycorp. They developed the gigantic Westhills neighbourhood, which built its 1,000th house in 2024. S001S002
Turner Lane Developments, owned by Les Bjola, was involved in Bear Mountain and Langford Lake subdivisions, as well as some others. S026
And finally Starlight Developments, owned by Daniel Drimmer, who built ‘The District’ development by Florence Lake and is also developing multiple subdivisions across the CRD. S004S027
What that development looks like
If you've ever driven through a subdivision in Langford and thought “wow, where’d all the trees go?” there’s a good chance Keycorp developed it. The dense neighbourhoods seem opposed to how we in Sooke would like to see development. The sprawling suburban developments of Langford seem to have had a haphazard view of the natural environment. An example of this sort of development is Centre Mountain. S003 It’s a fairly hidden development that you pass by every time you drive from Sooke to Langford, right where the old four lanes end, before the stoplight. Just south of Sooke Road, a previously forested, steep and partially mountainous land was cleared, graded, and blasted for residential development and a business park by Keycorp.
I do recognize that I can’t speak for all Sooke, but I am pretty confident that most of us don’t value the sort of developments that strip the land of trees and then load in dense housing, rather than an integrated with nature approach. And our current developments are not quite at the level of density that we see in Langford. Not entirely.
Now of course, developers aren’t developing land into housing for altruistic purposes. Nor should they, everyone needs to make money and support their families. But we do need to recognize that there is money, good money, in development and it’s better financially for developers if they are not tied up in the process of gaining permits, applying for zoning changes and bylaw variances. Having a profitable business is made easier by access to the power tied up in a municipal government, and an OCP that allows for unrestricted development.
Development is a financial game and a municipal council is one of the methods of play. This brings us to part 2: what does a council that allows for dense and quick development look and operate like?