Newsletter January 23, 2021: Are the District’s Published 2019/2020 Work Accomplishments Based on Reality?
The information and this Council’s claimed accomplishments listed in the Oak Bay Council minutes (November 9. 2020) and the District’s Oak Bay News taxpayer funded half- page advertising (January 14, 2021) requires an impartial, objective analysis.
The following “work-undertaken-to-date” accomplishments were identified:
Project Highlights:
Housing, Fiscal Responsibility Transparency, Increased Staff Workload due to Covid -19, Protective Services (Police & Fire Pandemic conditions, racism and systemic discrimination were referenced) and the Environment.
Other Accomplishments highlighted were:
What was notable however, was that the following were not identified as crises:
The Housing – Over-Building Crisis:
Considering the evidence and Community’s concern there is no doubt the Zoning Bylaw is a very destructive document, not only to Oak Bay’s fragile infrastructure but to the District’s environment as well.
Surprisingly, as most Council members recognized over-building as problematic in the 2018 election they have taken no action to address this thirteen-year-old crisis. The Advisory Planning Commission identified over-building as a serious problem in 2019. However, a review and correction has been shelved to an unspecified future date for reasons known only to the Planning Department and, possibly. to Council .
It is no wonder that more than half of Oak Bay Residents are shaking their heads over the a premature Secondary Suite Report that promotes and singles out a multi-tenant infill housing option referenced as an accomplishment. An “accomplishment” that if implemented, will only intensify the over-building crisis.
There has been no Council recognition that once the Community’s limited green space is gone (built over), it is gone forever.
Fiscal Responsibility Crisis
A 2020 6.9% Tax increase was referenced (taxes included in the water bill were not factored in) as was a Parks and Recreation deficit due to decreased fee revenue. However the latter had been offset by Provincial and Federal Covid–19 mitigation grants.
In the face of the District being the CRD leader with its record-breaking tax increases, it was irresponsible for Council to allow staff to hire a Director of Strategic Initiatives and a Communications Specialist to the tune of almost $300,000 of ongoing annual costs.
Not only were the duties of these new administrative staff members being adequately provided by existing staff, but there has been no apparent benefit to the Community – in fact a case can be made that the opposite is true.
It must also be noted that Council members campaigned in 2018 for property tax reform and efficiencies after highlighting the former Development Council regime’s misdirected and excessive expenditures.
Transparency Crisis:
The Planning Department has been severely criticized this Council term by resident groups and a residents’ Council Commission for withholding information; recommending inappropriate developments; and difficulties in accessing information etc.
The Planning Department has not alerted Council to the fact that the Zoning Bylaw is inconsistent, allows much too much lot coverage or that a correction must be prioritized and reviewed.
The Planning Department has not provided any proven creative housing options to date, despite the fact that there is now a Director of Building and Planning, a Manager of Planning, a Planner and a Chief Administration Officer with planning credentials.
Infrastructure Crisis:
On the plus side Council is directing many more tax dollars towards infrastructure improvement and maintenance. However, this is undermined by allowing so much over-building to continue. This is seriously impacting the same end-of-life infrastructure and defeats the purpose of the new dedicated funding.
Environmental Crisis:
The recent Accomplishment Report omits the environmental damage caused by the excessive over-building, but points to the forming and recommendations of a Climate Change Task Force as an accomplishment.
From 2007 to 2020 (well over a decade) there have been hundreds of new developments that have resulted in excessive lot coverage. Collectively these have resulted in serious impacts (e.g. several major, poorly publicized water main and sewer-line breaks and recent serious flooding damage).
There has been no recognition that there are capacity restrictions on the present infrastructure. It was designed, constructed and intended to service Oak Bay’s current built form. It is not a good practice to push more and more volume through a worn-out system.
The Climate Change Task Force did not address the overbuilding destruction: the loss of mature trees, vegetation and soil etc. It did not provide Council with the tree symposium experts and Oak Bay Watch information that saplings cannot come close to replacing the benefits that were previously provided by mature trees.
The tree destruction is the direct result of the District’s acceptance of clear-cutting and over-building. Even if saplings survive and thrive in the often limited space left on the lot, they will not reach maturity in the life time of half of Oak Bay’s population.
Council must take charge and provide to residents the same engagement opportunities that staff provide to developers and to special interest groups: e.g. half day collaborations and two-way conversations with staff. They must implement the recommendations of the three Mayor’s Public Engagement Task Forces and stop allowing Senior Administrative staff to dictate the Community’s priorities.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective. (worth a read)
The old analogy holds true: "If several houses on a street are burning, while every house counts, the burning houses must be dealt with first".
It therefore seems to us that it is time for a “Council Reality Check” – The District of Oak Bay has 5 urgent crises to address. As indicated, they are: a staff identified inconsistent zoning bylaw/ over-building crisis; an out-of-control tax increase crisis; a lack of transparency crisis; a failing infrastructure crisis and an environmental impact crisis.
Oak Bay has a limited revenue stream therefore:
“Oak Bay’s residents are active contributors in local decision-making, working collaboratively with municipal Council and staff”,
“This means having an open mind to the ideas of others and seeking compromise on issues” and,
“The Planning Department works with community to manage, change and guide the District’s sustainable growth”.
Other than a few minor examples there is no evidence these statements have any significant merit. It appears now that the “outpouring” of information released by the District is following the Public Relations/Communications handbook: “If you say something often enough, people will believe it”.
As long as Council continues to follow the “beat goes on” agenda of the previous over-development Council, allows Staff to dictate priorities and fails to fulfill their 2018 Election commitments, Oak Bay Residents will suffer the short and long-term consequences.
“Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay WatchHome
-------------------------------------------------------
*******Please help us continue to provide you with information about Community concerns and Council decisions and actions. Oak Bay Watch members also help community groups with their specific development concerns. Donate to Oak Bay Watch - even $5 or $10 dollars provides expenses for door- to- door handouts and helps us maintain our website. Oak Bay Watch is committed to ensuring the Community gets the full range of information on budget, governance and all key development issues – a well-informed opinion cannot be made without this.
(Please use Donate Button at bottom of oakbaywatch.com Home Page)
Keep informed and sign up for our newsletter – bottom of Newsletter Menu Item.
The information and this Council’s claimed accomplishments listed in the Oak Bay Council minutes (November 9. 2020) and the District’s Oak Bay News taxpayer funded half- page advertising (January 14, 2021) requires an impartial, objective analysis.
The following “work-undertaken-to-date” accomplishments were identified:
Project Highlights:
Housing, Fiscal Responsibility Transparency, Increased Staff Workload due to Covid -19, Protective Services (Police & Fire Pandemic conditions, racism and systemic discrimination were referenced) and the Environment.
Other Accomplishments highlighted were:
- The Climate Change Working Group recommendations were singled out as well as the new Tree Bylaw (that will see “thousands of new trees planted over the coming years”).
- Staff’s (unidentified role) of over-seeing the Volunteer driven (free-labour) and previously hotly-contested, Urban Wildlife Stewardship Program.The November 9, 2020 Council Meeting accomplishment message concludes with Council “having an open mind to the ideas of others and seeking compromise on issues”.
What was notable however, was that the following were not identified as crises:
The Housing – Over-Building Crisis:
Considering the evidence and Community’s concern there is no doubt the Zoning Bylaw is a very destructive document, not only to Oak Bay’s fragile infrastructure but to the District’s environment as well.
Surprisingly, as most Council members recognized over-building as problematic in the 2018 election they have taken no action to address this thirteen-year-old crisis. The Advisory Planning Commission identified over-building as a serious problem in 2019. However, a review and correction has been shelved to an unspecified future date for reasons known only to the Planning Department and, possibly. to Council .
It is no wonder that more than half of Oak Bay Residents are shaking their heads over the a premature Secondary Suite Report that promotes and singles out a multi-tenant infill housing option referenced as an accomplishment. An “accomplishment” that if implemented, will only intensify the over-building crisis.
There has been no Council recognition that once the Community’s limited green space is gone (built over), it is gone forever.
Fiscal Responsibility Crisis
A 2020 6.9% Tax increase was referenced (taxes included in the water bill were not factored in) as was a Parks and Recreation deficit due to decreased fee revenue. However the latter had been offset by Provincial and Federal Covid–19 mitigation grants.
In the face of the District being the CRD leader with its record-breaking tax increases, it was irresponsible for Council to allow staff to hire a Director of Strategic Initiatives and a Communications Specialist to the tune of almost $300,000 of ongoing annual costs.
Not only were the duties of these new administrative staff members being adequately provided by existing staff, but there has been no apparent benefit to the Community – in fact a case can be made that the opposite is true.
It must also be noted that Council members campaigned in 2018 for property tax reform and efficiencies after highlighting the former Development Council regime’s misdirected and excessive expenditures.
Transparency Crisis:
The Planning Department has been severely criticized this Council term by resident groups and a residents’ Council Commission for withholding information; recommending inappropriate developments; and difficulties in accessing information etc.
The Planning Department has not alerted Council to the fact that the Zoning Bylaw is inconsistent, allows much too much lot coverage or that a correction must be prioritized and reviewed.
The Planning Department has not provided any proven creative housing options to date, despite the fact that there is now a Director of Building and Planning, a Manager of Planning, a Planner and a Chief Administration Officer with planning credentials.
Infrastructure Crisis:
On the plus side Council is directing many more tax dollars towards infrastructure improvement and maintenance. However, this is undermined by allowing so much over-building to continue. This is seriously impacting the same end-of-life infrastructure and defeats the purpose of the new dedicated funding.
Environmental Crisis:
The recent Accomplishment Report omits the environmental damage caused by the excessive over-building, but points to the forming and recommendations of a Climate Change Task Force as an accomplishment.
From 2007 to 2020 (well over a decade) there have been hundreds of new developments that have resulted in excessive lot coverage. Collectively these have resulted in serious impacts (e.g. several major, poorly publicized water main and sewer-line breaks and recent serious flooding damage).
There has been no recognition that there are capacity restrictions on the present infrastructure. It was designed, constructed and intended to service Oak Bay’s current built form. It is not a good practice to push more and more volume through a worn-out system.
The Climate Change Task Force did not address the overbuilding destruction: the loss of mature trees, vegetation and soil etc. It did not provide Council with the tree symposium experts and Oak Bay Watch information that saplings cannot come close to replacing the benefits that were previously provided by mature trees.
The tree destruction is the direct result of the District’s acceptance of clear-cutting and over-building. Even if saplings survive and thrive in the often limited space left on the lot, they will not reach maturity in the life time of half of Oak Bay’s population.
Council must take charge and provide to residents the same engagement opportunities that staff provide to developers and to special interest groups: e.g. half day collaborations and two-way conversations with staff. They must implement the recommendations of the three Mayor’s Public Engagement Task Forces and stop allowing Senior Administrative staff to dictate the Community’s priorities.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective. (worth a read)
The old analogy holds true: "If several houses on a street are burning, while every house counts, the burning houses must be dealt with first".
It therefore seems to us that it is time for a “Council Reality Check” – The District of Oak Bay has 5 urgent crises to address. As indicated, they are: a staff identified inconsistent zoning bylaw/ over-building crisis; an out-of-control tax increase crisis; a lack of transparency crisis; a failing infrastructure crisis and an environmental impact crisis.
Oak Bay has a limited revenue stream therefore:
- There isn’t the funding or resources to continue the Corporate Plan and Staff’s “scatter-gun priority” approach. This is counter-productive and,
- Adding at this point, many more residents whose landlord’s rents cannot be adequately taxed. This will place a concentrated tax burden on the District’s already over-burdened, non-suite-earning residential tax base.
“Oak Bay’s residents are active contributors in local decision-making, working collaboratively with municipal Council and staff”,
“This means having an open mind to the ideas of others and seeking compromise on issues” and,
“The Planning Department works with community to manage, change and guide the District’s sustainable growth”.
Other than a few minor examples there is no evidence these statements have any significant merit. It appears now that the “outpouring” of information released by the District is following the Public Relations/Communications handbook: “If you say something often enough, people will believe it”.
As long as Council continues to follow the “beat goes on” agenda of the previous over-development Council, allows Staff to dictate priorities and fails to fulfill their 2018 Election commitments, Oak Bay Residents will suffer the short and long-term consequences.
“Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay WatchHome
-------------------------------------------------------
*******Please help us continue to provide you with information about Community concerns and Council decisions and actions. Oak Bay Watch members also help community groups with their specific development concerns. Donate to Oak Bay Watch - even $5 or $10 dollars provides expenses for door- to- door handouts and helps us maintain our website. Oak Bay Watch is committed to ensuring the Community gets the full range of information on budget, governance and all key development issues – a well-informed opinion cannot be made without this.
(Please use Donate Button at bottom of oakbaywatch.com Home Page)
Keep informed and sign up for our newsletter – bottom of Newsletter Menu Item.