and use a spirit of cordiality to develop
initiatives and improvements for local
residents.
As a result, the city of Langford has not only
attracted and navigated through a stretch of
ongoing population growth, but it's
managed to reshape some outs ide
perceptions along theway.
“Everybody used to view Langford as the
armpit of the region and now it's totally
reversed,” said Jim Bowden, the city's
administrator for the last six years.
“Nobody would ever want to admit that
they lived in Langford, and now everybody
is proud to call Langfordhome.”
Bowden beams audibly when discussing the
city's burgeoning statistics, which include a
30 percent boost in the number of full-time
residents in the last five years – averaging
out to a 6 percent annual growth in that
period – and a forecast for similar
enhancement for the foreseeable future.
The area the city now occupies was settled
163 years ago byCapt. Edward Langford on
behalf of the Puget Sound Agricultural
Company. The official incorporation,
however, didn't come until 1992.
The population began its double-digit
percentage rise between 2001 and 2006,
jumping 19.2 percent to reach 22,459. It
rose another 30.1 percent to get to 29,228
by the time the 2011 federal census count
was taken, and Bowden said the 2014
estimate is closer to32,000.
The mix of people arriving, Bowden said,
includes retirees fromthe eastern part of the
country, along with those who work in the
downtown core of nearby Victoria – about
15 kilometers to the east – and seek
affordable single-family housing away from
the bustle of the provincial capital.
“It's a little bit cheaper out here,” he said,
“and we're working on building many of the
amenities that people arewanting.”
About 50 percent of Langford's working
population commutes into Victoria,
168 | BusinessWorld | August-September 2014
