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  • NL - Is Oak Bay Protecting Our natural Assets?
The author of this letter appeared before Council on October 10th, 2017 and explained
how neighbours and other members of the community have serious concerns  about 
degradation of Oak Bay's foreshore areas. It is apparent from recent incidents that
Council 
has no standard policy or regulatory framework to deal with foreshore
violations. 
They have chosen instead to rely on voluntary covenants (one was recently
withdrawn 
after the development was approved) and allow the the owner/ developer
to hire their own 
contractors to remedy the damage they have caused.

Much more effective solutions would be to insist on compulsory covenants (most likely
saving 
significant taxpayer dollars in court costs) and the municipality's restoring the
foreshore as 
closely as possible to its original state and charging the owner/ developer for
the restoration. 
This is a legislated option that provides both for an effective deterrent
and the best possible 
outcome. It is important that Council maintain a balance for our
foreshore to provide both beach 
access and privacy for the community and for the
homeowner whose property abuts 
the foreshore. 


Community Letter:

​Dear Mayor Jensen, Councillors and Staff,


   I should clarify that I am addressing you as a concerned citizen and not as a 
   board member of the Heritage Commission. A friend snapped this photograph 
   (see Picture attachment) of my new neighbour's lot on Sunny Lane this past
   weekend). 
 
   There are concerns about cliffside stability and safety and possible misunder-
   standings and miscommunications at the Municipal level.  I spoke with the new
   owner, A.B. a few days ago to share advice gleaned from my family’s experience 
   of over 60 years at 151 Sunny Lane. I mentioned that the rock in the cliffs can 
   fragment into boulders and invited him to visit the garden here to see huge rocks
   that have peeled off the cliff.

   We had Oak Bay remove a boulder that had tumbled into our garden years ago, 
   and the Municipality accepted responsibility for the rock that slammed into the 
   house between A.B’s property and mine. (A reminder of possible legal 
   liability: the Municipality spent weeks removing other rocks and drilling into the 
   cliff to pin rods that hold strong mesh to stabilize that cliff section).  I told A.B.
   that a former geologist neighbour advised my husband and me to retain trees
   and vegetation as a buffer, and suggested that he plant trees that could mature
   into a safeguard. A.B. replied that an appropriate wall was being constructed, 
   that he had consulted a geotechnical engineer, and had received the necessary 
   approvals from the Municipality. Since then, more of the cliff side was removed, 
   to the very border of his property. Note: the orange surveyor's tape that can be seen
   in the photo attachment beside A.B.’s outdoor staircase, which now hovers over 
  the newly created precipice. 


   It does not make sense that neighbours on King George Terrace and Sunny Lane
   who planned modest upper storey additions within the existing home’s footprint 
   require both approval from Council and neighbour consultation, while this is not 
   required to allow hollowing out an unstable cliff to enlarge the footprint of a new
   house and over developing the lot.  Retired geologist Chris Yorath. (author of The
  Geology of Southern Vancouver Island) states that cliffs should not be made steeper
  Where the rock can fragment and the rainy season can last for months in our 
  earthquake zone, that is wise advice.
 
   I am copying this to neighbours and other residents who are also very concerned
   about the similar removal of trees and vegetation along the Oak Bay Shoreline, that
   anchor the soil and retain so much moisture. Recent examples are: nearby 383 and
   363 King George Terrace (KGT) at Sunny Lane where an inappropriate boulder
   wall replaced a well rooted buffer zone and, the Bare Land Strata development at 
   237 KGT alongside the world class Lookout at Trafalgar Park.  In the later case it
   was accepted by the Oak Bay District’s appointed Approving Officer to add 4 houses
   on a Single Family property without Council's involvement, policy, guidelines
   or neighborhood consultation – despite signed objections by about 80 neighbours
   who worry about blasting away valued habitat and crave fair consultation.  How
   was this considered to be in the public interest?
 
  Municipal staff is overworked in part because much development is disrespectful of 
  the principles of the Official Community Plan. Let us work together to implement
  Green Shores Stewardship, the Urban Forest Strategy and an affordable Housing 
  Strategy, all emphasized by our OCP.
 
  I am also copying this to the Oak Bay News. The photograph, if published,
  could serve as an example of current acceptance of a bare land approach to
  development that many residents find threatens our better nature.
 

  Sincerely, Marion Cumming
​

Picture