How will Council’s Densification Legacy change Oak Bay?
It’s not that difficult to understand, unless you are one of a number of Oak Bay Council members, that when other municipalities changed their zoning to add more density, the price of land increased significantly. This has been a primary factor in increasing their housing prices that now rival Oak Bay's – historically, that have always been higher.
However, Oak Bay has kept pace to date, not by densifying, but by being one of the top livable and peaceful communities in Canada.
June 13, 2022 Council meeting: A lot of speech-making that it is Oak Bay’s Residents’ responsibility to provide: student housing; low-income housing; entry level housing and affordable housing in general.
Notwithstanding: that all this is Federal and Provincial ’‘territory” ;or that residents get next to nothing from the Provincial Government to provide services for the student population that is currently accommodated ;or that municipalities cannot dictate the price of homes, land or rents. Nevertheless, Council spent most of the meeting discussing “their policies” to include in a multi-tenant secondary suite bylaw that they intend to approve in the next two months.
There wasn’t a lot of discussion about: who would pay for the enforcement costs of “Council’s policies and conditions”; or who would pay for the regulation costs and the infrastructure impacts or how would existing residents be protected from the other harmful density impacts.
It was particularly disturbing to hear Oak Bay’s Secondary Suite Consultant say that Oak Bay, for the most part, has lots of available street-parking to accommodate, for what he anticipates will be, a significantly increased number of vehicles.
The McNeil Traffic Calming Project speaks to Oak Bay’s street-parking problem and one lane street problem (see Committee of the Whole Meeting June 20, 2021 Agenda Item 7.1 McNeil Report. “The road is narrow, and parked cars have been damaged by passing cars (scrapes on sides of vehicles, broken side mirrors, etc).
Some members of Council and the public thought that a street-parking solution, instead of on-site parking, will somehow reduce the dependently on cars and help solve climate change. In fact, the opposite is true (see Oak Bay Watch Perspective).
The member of Council who made the most rational observation all evening was Councillor Paterson who stated the Secondary Suite Initiative would not guarantee affordability, student housing or safety. Her statement was the only comment based on the facts.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
What will the be the result of Council’s legislation to allow so much higher-density in Oak Bay’s single-family neighbourhoods?
The added population will certainly generate revenue for the secondary-suite owner but, will not generate any revenue for the municipality. The cost of the increase in existing and new services that will be required: police, fire, enforcement and infrastructure, will have to be provided by existing taxpayers.
The main achievement, more high-density, high-rent accommodation, will no doubt enrich and help a small minority of homeowners, but it will have the opposite effect on the majority.
The offset of providing this new high-density, high-rent accommodation that, in many cases will be inadequate and perhaps unsafe, will be an increase in commuter traffic. Vehicles burning fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel) are the primary cause of pollution in cities.
Most of the greenhouse gas emissions are due to the transport sector in urban areas. Due to an increase in the number of vehicles on the roads, there is an increase in the emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere – see the following car-pollution 2022 update for much more information: https://housegrail.com/car-pollution-statistics/
It seems that this and the following fact has escaped the notice of the majority of Council: in the last two decades the abundant supply of multi-tenant basement suites and infill development in the rest of the Capital Regional District has not reduced the dependency on cars. However, the reverse is true: this has only added to the substantial, steady increase in commuter traffic everywhere.
Oak Bay in the last few years has seen a number of intersections gridlocked - both ways: for example, Oak Bay Avenue & Foul Bay Road, Cadboro Bay Road & Foul Bay Road, Lansdowne Road & Foul Bay Road and from Fort Street, south on Foul Bay Road to Oak Bay Avenue.
More commuter traffic and more gridlock only make the climate change crisis and the global warming effect worse.
At the June 13, 2022 Council meeting there was a lot of developer promotion speeches but, evidence supporting their position was not provided.
The June 10, 2022 final Secondary Suite Study Report states 6.2 Key Issues: “Similar to the findings of the Secondary Suites Review Committee in 2010, engagement participants were somewhat divided on the topic of secondary suites, with strong opinions on both sides of the issue”.
It is notable however, in addition to all of the unanswered questions, that only one side of the secondary suite issue has been considered: that is the position of some Council members, some residents and “stakeholders” who want multi-tenant suites. However, it would be reasonable to expect, given the controversy and impacts involved, that the interests of most of the Community would prevail.
The good news is a local government election is coming soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay Watch
Oak Bay Watch is a volunteer community association and its members have a variety of professional backgrounds in both the public and private sector.
*******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.
It’s not that difficult to understand, unless you are one of a number of Oak Bay Council members, that when other municipalities changed their zoning to add more density, the price of land increased significantly. This has been a primary factor in increasing their housing prices that now rival Oak Bay's – historically, that have always been higher.
However, Oak Bay has kept pace to date, not by densifying, but by being one of the top livable and peaceful communities in Canada.
June 13, 2022 Council meeting: A lot of speech-making that it is Oak Bay’s Residents’ responsibility to provide: student housing; low-income housing; entry level housing and affordable housing in general.
Notwithstanding: that all this is Federal and Provincial ’‘territory” ;or that residents get next to nothing from the Provincial Government to provide services for the student population that is currently accommodated ;or that municipalities cannot dictate the price of homes, land or rents. Nevertheless, Council spent most of the meeting discussing “their policies” to include in a multi-tenant secondary suite bylaw that they intend to approve in the next two months.
There wasn’t a lot of discussion about: who would pay for the enforcement costs of “Council’s policies and conditions”; or who would pay for the regulation costs and the infrastructure impacts or how would existing residents be protected from the other harmful density impacts.
It was particularly disturbing to hear Oak Bay’s Secondary Suite Consultant say that Oak Bay, for the most part, has lots of available street-parking to accommodate, for what he anticipates will be, a significantly increased number of vehicles.
The McNeil Traffic Calming Project speaks to Oak Bay’s street-parking problem and one lane street problem (see Committee of the Whole Meeting June 20, 2021 Agenda Item 7.1 McNeil Report. “The road is narrow, and parked cars have been damaged by passing cars (scrapes on sides of vehicles, broken side mirrors, etc).
Some members of Council and the public thought that a street-parking solution, instead of on-site parking, will somehow reduce the dependently on cars and help solve climate change. In fact, the opposite is true (see Oak Bay Watch Perspective).
The member of Council who made the most rational observation all evening was Councillor Paterson who stated the Secondary Suite Initiative would not guarantee affordability, student housing or safety. Her statement was the only comment based on the facts.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
What will the be the result of Council’s legislation to allow so much higher-density in Oak Bay’s single-family neighbourhoods?
The added population will certainly generate revenue for the secondary-suite owner but, will not generate any revenue for the municipality. The cost of the increase in existing and new services that will be required: police, fire, enforcement and infrastructure, will have to be provided by existing taxpayers.
The main achievement, more high-density, high-rent accommodation, will no doubt enrich and help a small minority of homeowners, but it will have the opposite effect on the majority.
The offset of providing this new high-density, high-rent accommodation that, in many cases will be inadequate and perhaps unsafe, will be an increase in commuter traffic. Vehicles burning fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel) are the primary cause of pollution in cities.
Most of the greenhouse gas emissions are due to the transport sector in urban areas. Due to an increase in the number of vehicles on the roads, there is an increase in the emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere – see the following car-pollution 2022 update for much more information: https://housegrail.com/car-pollution-statistics/
It seems that this and the following fact has escaped the notice of the majority of Council: in the last two decades the abundant supply of multi-tenant basement suites and infill development in the rest of the Capital Regional District has not reduced the dependency on cars. However, the reverse is true: this has only added to the substantial, steady increase in commuter traffic everywhere.
Oak Bay in the last few years has seen a number of intersections gridlocked - both ways: for example, Oak Bay Avenue & Foul Bay Road, Cadboro Bay Road & Foul Bay Road, Lansdowne Road & Foul Bay Road and from Fort Street, south on Foul Bay Road to Oak Bay Avenue.
More commuter traffic and more gridlock only make the climate change crisis and the global warming effect worse.
At the June 13, 2022 Council meeting there was a lot of developer promotion speeches but, evidence supporting their position was not provided.
The June 10, 2022 final Secondary Suite Study Report states 6.2 Key Issues: “Similar to the findings of the Secondary Suites Review Committee in 2010, engagement participants were somewhat divided on the topic of secondary suites, with strong opinions on both sides of the issue”.
It is notable however, in addition to all of the unanswered questions, that only one side of the secondary suite issue has been considered: that is the position of some Council members, some residents and “stakeholders” who want multi-tenant suites. However, it would be reasonable to expect, given the controversy and impacts involved, that the interests of most of the Community would prevail.
The good news is a local government election is coming soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay Watch
Oak Bay Watch is a volunteer community association and its members have a variety of professional backgrounds in both the public and private sector.
*******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.