“Inconsistent and contradictory policies and practices mean you will be as uninformed by the District today as you were two years ago.”
Due to the Covid Pandemic, members of the public are not permitted to attend Oak Bay’s Municipal Hall and are also shut out of attending Council and public meetings. Council meetings are webcast and Council members and staff are spaced well apart or participate from home. Most of the District’s Administrative staff now do most of their work at home. The District constantly reminds residents to:
On the other hand, incompatible with and in direct contradiction of all of the above preventive measures, Council and Staff are actively promoting much more density for the community’s single-family neighbourhoods. They have prioritized and fast-tracked multiple-tenant basement suites and a variety of other multi-tenant infill developments. To accomplish this Council has:
If all this is not enough, Council has approved restricting resident consultation by bundling all single-family neighbourhood infill densification together. This consolidation was never expected and clearly cuts corners to reduce pushback on these contentious neighborhood densification issues and also in order to facilitate and expedite the development agenda. Most likely this “consultation” will consist of another promotional show-and-tell meeting that includes another unsigned sticky note strategy and a leading-question resident survey.
A survey with suspect questions similar to the often-repeated results of the Official Community Plan (OCP) resident survey questions. For example, the question that indicated if there were no inevitable, harmful impacts (as if this were possible)) would you agree to allow (multi-tenant) suites? Council may well have added if nuclear plants were safe from radiation and environmental damage and other harmful impacts, would you be in favor of them?
It appears that Council is out of touch with what is happening in the real world. Density is the number one factor in the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The evidence shows the denser the area is throughout North America (this does not exempt BC) the more virus infections and deaths there are. Has Council not noticed that people often jump off the sidewalk when someone approaches them? Do they not know that currently there are new highly contagious virus variants that spread more quickly than the original?
Have they not been briefed on the reason residents are not at Council meetings or why Council members are all “spaced out” at meetings? But most of all why don’t they understand increasing the number of tenants in a basement will make it very difficult, if not impossible, to follow the safety measure protocols?
This is an airborne respiratory virus, therefore considering putting more people in a basement doesn’t seem like a good idea at this time. Also, it is far from clear how long this virus, vaccinated against or not, will be with us and as the medical and science experts tell us, what the new normal will look like?
Oak Bay Watch Perspective (read on for more facts)
It is difficult to accept this “false equivalency” and using up all this Council and staff energy and taxpayer funds to promote and approve this increased level of densification. Current Council members Murdoch, Ney, Braithwaite and Zhelka were present at the two September 2016, same-day University of Victoria (UVIC) standing room only, residential infill development open-house meetings. The meetings were hosted by the District and an Infill Consultant. It was made crystal clear by almost every resident, throughout the morning and afternoon sessions that they strongly opposed infill development in their single-family neighbourhoods.
Directly after the meetings, the Resident Infill Strategy was hastily killed on the spot by Council. The data shows Oak Bay residents remain in the community long-term. It can therefore be assumed, as no community has solved any of the harmful impacts of widespread infill development, that residents will not have changed their opposition to such a significant infill rezoning impact. Councillor Zhelka seems to be the only Councillor who recalls the proceedings at the UVIC events and the overwhelming resident opposition to infill at these late 2016 open-house meetings and he is the only Councillor to have acknowledged this in a number of Council meetings.
Besides the serious health issues this new push to densify imposes, staff consistently quote excerpts from the OCP to promote their neighbourhood densification agenda. There are many undertakings the OCP identifies still to be completed prior to community engagement and consideration, particularly with so many more Consultant predicted suites on the horizon. Oak Bay Watch will be providing these required undertakings and much more secondary suite factual information in future newsletters.
Both the Community and Council recognize that neighbourhood infill development is such a highly contentious issue that has in the past resulted in standing-room only resident attendance at meetings. However as indicated, face-to-face consultation is presently not possible. It would not be prudent for Council to move forward with this densification initiative until these restrictions are removed. Indeed, it would be ethically inappropriate and opportunistic to do so
Ask not what your Council can do for you: ask why is Council doing what it is doing.
________________________________
“Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay Watch
*******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.
Due to the Covid Pandemic, members of the public are not permitted to attend Oak Bay’s Municipal Hall and are also shut out of attending Council and public meetings. Council meetings are webcast and Council members and staff are spaced well apart or participate from home. Most of the District’s Administrative staff now do most of their work at home. The District constantly reminds residents to:
- Wear Masks
- Maintain good personal and environmental hygiene
- Ensure good ventilation
- Maintain washrooms, drains and pipes
- Cover nose and mouth with a tissue while sneezing or coughing, dispose of tissue and wash hands immediately
- Maintain physical distancing (at least 2meters)
On the other hand, incompatible with and in direct contradiction of all of the above preventive measures, Council and Staff are actively promoting much more density for the community’s single-family neighbourhoods. They have prioritized and fast-tracked multiple-tenant basement suites and a variety of other multi-tenant infill developments. To accomplish this Council has:
- Allocated an additional $143,000 2021 tax dollars to hire consultants
- Hired yet another planner
- Placed neighbourhood densification ahead of adding density to Oak Bay’s transit routes (an initiative that even the development industry and climate change advocates have prioritized)
- Postponed correcting the zoning bylaw for two years. The number one issue identified by residents to stop the destruction of our environment, streetscapes and heritage homes – the defining values of Oak Bay.
If all this is not enough, Council has approved restricting resident consultation by bundling all single-family neighbourhood infill densification together. This consolidation was never expected and clearly cuts corners to reduce pushback on these contentious neighborhood densification issues and also in order to facilitate and expedite the development agenda. Most likely this “consultation” will consist of another promotional show-and-tell meeting that includes another unsigned sticky note strategy and a leading-question resident survey.
A survey with suspect questions similar to the often-repeated results of the Official Community Plan (OCP) resident survey questions. For example, the question that indicated if there were no inevitable, harmful impacts (as if this were possible)) would you agree to allow (multi-tenant) suites? Council may well have added if nuclear plants were safe from radiation and environmental damage and other harmful impacts, would you be in favor of them?
It appears that Council is out of touch with what is happening in the real world. Density is the number one factor in the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The evidence shows the denser the area is throughout North America (this does not exempt BC) the more virus infections and deaths there are. Has Council not noticed that people often jump off the sidewalk when someone approaches them? Do they not know that currently there are new highly contagious virus variants that spread more quickly than the original?
Have they not been briefed on the reason residents are not at Council meetings or why Council members are all “spaced out” at meetings? But most of all why don’t they understand increasing the number of tenants in a basement will make it very difficult, if not impossible, to follow the safety measure protocols?
This is an airborne respiratory virus, therefore considering putting more people in a basement doesn’t seem like a good idea at this time. Also, it is far from clear how long this virus, vaccinated against or not, will be with us and as the medical and science experts tell us, what the new normal will look like?
Oak Bay Watch Perspective (read on for more facts)
It is difficult to accept this “false equivalency” and using up all this Council and staff energy and taxpayer funds to promote and approve this increased level of densification. Current Council members Murdoch, Ney, Braithwaite and Zhelka were present at the two September 2016, same-day University of Victoria (UVIC) standing room only, residential infill development open-house meetings. The meetings were hosted by the District and an Infill Consultant. It was made crystal clear by almost every resident, throughout the morning and afternoon sessions that they strongly opposed infill development in their single-family neighbourhoods.
Directly after the meetings, the Resident Infill Strategy was hastily killed on the spot by Council. The data shows Oak Bay residents remain in the community long-term. It can therefore be assumed, as no community has solved any of the harmful impacts of widespread infill development, that residents will not have changed their opposition to such a significant infill rezoning impact. Councillor Zhelka seems to be the only Councillor who recalls the proceedings at the UVIC events and the overwhelming resident opposition to infill at these late 2016 open-house meetings and he is the only Councillor to have acknowledged this in a number of Council meetings.
Besides the serious health issues this new push to densify imposes, staff consistently quote excerpts from the OCP to promote their neighbourhood densification agenda. There are many undertakings the OCP identifies still to be completed prior to community engagement and consideration, particularly with so many more Consultant predicted suites on the horizon. Oak Bay Watch will be providing these required undertakings and much more secondary suite factual information in future newsletters.
Both the Community and Council recognize that neighbourhood infill development is such a highly contentious issue that has in the past resulted in standing-room only resident attendance at meetings. However as indicated, face-to-face consultation is presently not possible. It would not be prudent for Council to move forward with this densification initiative until these restrictions are removed. Indeed, it would be ethically inappropriate and opportunistic to do so
Ask not what your Council can do for you: ask why is Council doing what it is doing.
________________________________
“Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay Watch
*******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.