Six Months Behind Schedule


August 14, 2008 - Word on the street says Bear Mountain Resort condo sales have plummeted to zero in the past three months and new tower construction has been abandoned. Construction of the Bear Mountain Interchange is now six months behind schedule, a situation that people warned could happen when they met with City of Langford staff in August 2007. The delay appears to be the result of problems securing funds for the project without driving the city in unmanageable debt.

Mayor Stew Young repeatedly promised that "the developers would pay all of the cost," but the city is now reduced to issuing an unsecured letter of credit, scaling construction back dramatically and postponing portions of the interchange. Below is the original construction schedule, issued in October 2007.


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The tree sitters and the Boycott Bare Mountain campaign can't take all the credit for this fiasco. Poor financial planning, massive community opposition, the US foreclosure crisis and the price of gas all contributed as well. No doubt those who promoted this project thought they could bully their way to success. Not turning out that well, is it? Well, we told you so.