Newsletter October 24, 2021: Missing Information and Transparency (Important Website Visitor Information)
Message to Website Visitors
Unfortunately for obvious health-related reasons, we have not been able to provide you with the public forums that we held during the last Council term: Notably, our standing-room-only Open House and All-Candidates Meetings. These events allowed all resident's viewpoints, questions, answers to be heard by those attending and viewing the video meeting presentation.
It’s disappointing that this Council has not provided (pre-pandemic) these kinds of resident forums for secondary suites and infill. These were provided in past Council Terms. It is obvious why this Council has stayed clear of land-use change with open meeting initiatives (Newsletter below explains why). Their show-and-tell and pop-up booths have only provided isolated, unshared viewpoints and limited information. The result: interaction between residents has been restricted. Perhaps this was the intent.
Background Information
The District of Oak Bay’s Planning Department senior staff received an expensive consultant’s 14-page, Secondary Suite Review Report in December 2018. This Review Report was withheld until May 27, 2019, five months after it was received. During that five-month period, discussions at a number of Council meetings considered the implementation of multi-tenant suites in Oak Bay’s single-family neighbourhoods. The District also held a show-and-tell secondary suite meeting for residents on April 25, 2019, at the Recreation Centre.
The December 2018 withheld Review Report had important impact information that could well have influenced Council’s decisions when discussing a number of the Planning Department’s secondary suite reports in January through May 2019. The 2018 Review Report’s information could also have been invaluable to residents who attended the District’s April 25, 2019 "show-and-tell", Rec Centre meeting. And certainly, this information. would have been welcomed by residents who responded to the April 2019 questionnaire seeking their secondary suite viewpoints.
A revised 58-page, consultant Secondary Suite Study Report - now called an Information Report, was listed as Item 10, on Council's December 14, 2021 meeting agenda. Public Input was permitted at this Council meeting, However, the Secondary Suite Study Information Report item was moved to a January 11, 2021 Council meeting where public input was not permitted.
Although a Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting was held just prior to the December 14, 2020 Council meeting there was no explanation of why this important land-use change report was not part of the COW agenda. The new District Procedure Bylaw 4047 explains, “Committee of the Whole means a session of a meeting of Council conducted to provide greater freedom of debate by Council and input from the public, as provided for in this Bylaw.
The "moved" Secondary Suite Study Information Report now relabeled “Secondary Suite Draft Strategy Report " was provided at the January 11, 2021 Council Meeting along with a Consultant's PowerPoint Presentation and three Secondary Suite Staff Reports: no public input was allowed however, Council debated and made changes o the “Secondary Suite Draft Strategy Report" for the best part of 2 hours and for almost all of the 2 hour and 14 minute Council Meeting. There were several assurances that full Public consultation would follow in the coming weeks.
For some unexplained reason the "moved" Secondary Suite Report Draft Strategy was not redirected, a week later, to the January 18, 2021 Committee of the Whole meeting where extensive public input is permitted. This was notwithstanding the COW meeting had a very light agenda and only lasted an hour and 22 minutes.
The District of Oak Bay's Administration barely publicized the expensive consultant's, January 22, 2021 58-page, Secondary Suite Strategy Report that outlines the District’s promoted, single-family neighbourhood densification. Although public input opportunities were committed to in March, July and September 2021, a public engagement opportunity was not provided for this Report until the October 18, 2021 Council Meeting, some 10 months later. This was at the same meeting the Report's strategies and information was to be received and sent to Council for final approval.
Residents would not have been aware of this Secondary Suite Study Strategy Report unless they happened to see the January 2021 Council meeting agenda. The District conducted a second secondary survey in May/ June 2021, and although a lot of secondary suite information was provided at that time, the 58-page Consultant’s secondary Suite Study Strategy was not referenced. It was also not referenced in the District’s Oak Bay News (page 2) paid advertising ahead of the survey or provided on the municipal Website.
As indicated, the Oak Bay’s Administration did not hold secondary suite discussion sessions for residents. Instead, they did seek advice on this imitative from other stakeholders in 3 discussion sessions. These were Stakeholders that would benefit from basement suite densification but not suffer the impacts. These sessions were held at taxpayer expense well ahead of meaningful public input.
The District of Oak Bay’s Administration’s public engagement process has been highly criticized by four prominent community groups and many others. It also came under fire in an Ombudsperson’s Findings Report in 2017 and again at Council on October 18, 2021. Unfortunately at that Council meeting, some Council members, while ignoring the District’s public engagement commitments, considered that a decade long secondary suite community opposition and rejection and two highly criticized surveys as being sufficient secondary suite public engagement discussion, communication and consultation.
Therein lies the problem. Multi-tenant secondary suites were rejected out-of-hand by the community in 2010. A 2010 secondary suite survey, that would not have passed any standards or credibility test, was highly criticized by the Council of the day and the community. It is still on the municipal website and was provided to both the Official Community Plan Consultant and the Secondary Suite Consultant. Residential single-family neighbourhood infill that included secondary suites was also totally rejected by the community at two packed, District-sponsored open meetings in September 2016.
Secondary suites is a matter of no small controversy”, stated the previous (voted out of office) Oak Bay Mayor. He favoured multi-tenant secondary suites and infill in single-family neighbourhoods.
Yes, there have been a lot of secondary suite discussions but also: a lot of misinformation; missing impact information; questionable surveys; substantial wasted tax dollars and unnecessary staff effort. Somehow all of the substantial resident opposition and the rejection of this proven, very-difficult-to-control single-family densification are now being twisted and considered by some Council members to be positive and adequate public engagement input and discussion?
Oak Bay Watch Perspective (More Important Council information)
Important Message to Website Visitors:
Oak Bay Watch, as soon as practicable and safe, plans to hold open-house events where you can express your viewpoints. You will be able to let other residents know how you believe our District is being administered and “managed”.
In the interim we request you email us at [email protected] and let us know your views on such topics as: next year’s proposed 12% tax hike; the proposed single-family neighbourhood densification initiatives (i.e. 1500 more multi-tenant, non-taxable basement suites infill units); the recent budgeted consultant’s $120,000 single-family neighbourhood, Infill Project Charter; the District’s infrastructure and financial crisis; how you believe public engagement has influenced or not Council decisions this term, and any points raised in this newsletter.
Council Meeting Report October 18, 2021
Agenda Item 7. The final Secondary Suite Study Report:
It is difficult to understand that the secondary suite consultant has to date, (2019 through October 2021), not provided the mountain of information available about the lack of registration compliance for secondary suite as experienced in other BC communities. For example, Delta, Vancouver, Surrey and Richmond have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in unsuccessfully attempts to enforce and encourage suite registration programs.
Although this information is only a phone call away, it was not until the October 18, 2021 Council Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting that, at this late stage, the information was requested. Councillor Zhelka’s request for this basic information should have been provided long ago. It should also have been requested by the Advisory Planning Commission whose members represent the community’s interest; however, it was not. If this "suite compliance" information is provided it has yet to be determined whether the data is going to be comprehensive and clear, and if it will be included in the Secondary Suite Study Final Report.
To their credit Council members at the October 18, 2021 Council COW meeting did ask a number of relevant secondary suite impact questions. However, the Secondary Suite Consultant based his answers and community impact protections as if full suite registration compliance was a logical or sensible expectation. The reality is, and the evidence confirms it , that if the present suite zoning is changed, Oak Bay, like many other communities, will have many more unregistered, untaxed suites, on top of its present untaxed, 750 suite rental stock. Property taxpayers, the majority of whom do not own suites, will end up spending precious dollars to deal with the many impacts.
A lot of the Secondary Suite Study Report information is based on findings from the suspect secondary suite resident surveys. However, the survey and the survey questions have been highly criticized. For example, this year's Survey Question #2 “Please describe your current experience with secondary suites in Oak Bay”. The only response option provided for residents “without-a-suite” was, “I Live on a street where a secondary suite is located”, How ridiculous is this? This would be comparable to asking the many homeowner’s who experienced flood damage to their homes this year: “Did you notice any excess water?” and providing this as the only option.
Councillor Braithwaite is on record for noticing the impact of a lot more cars parked on her street. She stated garbage trucks have difficulty with their collections – and on one occasion a car has was damaged. This was most likely because, like so many other Oak Bay streets, hers had been reduced to single lane traffic. Oak Bay Fire Department please take note.
Councillor Braithwaite also stated her concerns that an increase in street parking (that will be caused by the consultant-estimated 1500 increase in secondary suite housing stock) would seriously impact Oak Bay’s character. She noted all the cars and boats parked on the streets of Victoria. Council and staff have indicated they are committed to the Official Community Plan's objective of preventing impacts to Oak Bay’s single-family character. Let’s see how this plays out?
There is a secondary suite increase solution and Oak Bay Watch will reporting on this in future newsletter publications. And at any “committed to” public opportunities such as resident discussion sessions..
More on the October 18, 2021 Council COW meeting Council discussions and new information in future Oak Bay Watch newsletters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Incompetence and mismanagement exist if good people remain silent”
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.
Unfortunately for obvious health-related reasons, we have not been able to provide you with the public forums that we held during the last Council term: Notably, our standing-room-only Open House and All-Candidates Meetings. These events allowed all resident's viewpoints, questions, answers to be heard by those attending and viewing the video meeting presentation.
It’s disappointing that this Council has not provided (pre-pandemic) these kinds of resident forums for secondary suites and infill. These were provided in past Council Terms. It is obvious why this Council has stayed clear of land-use change with open meeting initiatives (Newsletter below explains why). Their show-and-tell and pop-up booths have only provided isolated, unshared viewpoints and limited information. The result: interaction between residents has been restricted. Perhaps this was the intent.
Background Information
The District of Oak Bay’s Planning Department senior staff received an expensive consultant’s 14-page, Secondary Suite Review Report in December 2018. This Review Report was withheld until May 27, 2019, five months after it was received. During that five-month period, discussions at a number of Council meetings considered the implementation of multi-tenant suites in Oak Bay’s single-family neighbourhoods. The District also held a show-and-tell secondary suite meeting for residents on April 25, 2019, at the Recreation Centre.
The December 2018 withheld Review Report had important impact information that could well have influenced Council’s decisions when discussing a number of the Planning Department’s secondary suite reports in January through May 2019. The 2018 Review Report’s information could also have been invaluable to residents who attended the District’s April 25, 2019 "show-and-tell", Rec Centre meeting. And certainly, this information. would have been welcomed by residents who responded to the April 2019 questionnaire seeking their secondary suite viewpoints.
A revised 58-page, consultant Secondary Suite Study Report - now called an Information Report, was listed as Item 10, on Council's December 14, 2021 meeting agenda. Public Input was permitted at this Council meeting, However, the Secondary Suite Study Information Report item was moved to a January 11, 2021 Council meeting where public input was not permitted.
Although a Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting was held just prior to the December 14, 2020 Council meeting there was no explanation of why this important land-use change report was not part of the COW agenda. The new District Procedure Bylaw 4047 explains, “Committee of the Whole means a session of a meeting of Council conducted to provide greater freedom of debate by Council and input from the public, as provided for in this Bylaw.
The "moved" Secondary Suite Study Information Report now relabeled “Secondary Suite Draft Strategy Report " was provided at the January 11, 2021 Council Meeting along with a Consultant's PowerPoint Presentation and three Secondary Suite Staff Reports: no public input was allowed however, Council debated and made changes o the “Secondary Suite Draft Strategy Report" for the best part of 2 hours and for almost all of the 2 hour and 14 minute Council Meeting. There were several assurances that full Public consultation would follow in the coming weeks.
For some unexplained reason the "moved" Secondary Suite Report Draft Strategy was not redirected, a week later, to the January 18, 2021 Committee of the Whole meeting where extensive public input is permitted. This was notwithstanding the COW meeting had a very light agenda and only lasted an hour and 22 minutes.
The District of Oak Bay's Administration barely publicized the expensive consultant's, January 22, 2021 58-page, Secondary Suite Strategy Report that outlines the District’s promoted, single-family neighbourhood densification. Although public input opportunities were committed to in March, July and September 2021, a public engagement opportunity was not provided for this Report until the October 18, 2021 Council Meeting, some 10 months later. This was at the same meeting the Report's strategies and information was to be received and sent to Council for final approval.
Residents would not have been aware of this Secondary Suite Study Strategy Report unless they happened to see the January 2021 Council meeting agenda. The District conducted a second secondary survey in May/ June 2021, and although a lot of secondary suite information was provided at that time, the 58-page Consultant’s secondary Suite Study Strategy was not referenced. It was also not referenced in the District’s Oak Bay News (page 2) paid advertising ahead of the survey or provided on the municipal Website.
As indicated, the Oak Bay’s Administration did not hold secondary suite discussion sessions for residents. Instead, they did seek advice on this imitative from other stakeholders in 3 discussion sessions. These were Stakeholders that would benefit from basement suite densification but not suffer the impacts. These sessions were held at taxpayer expense well ahead of meaningful public input.
The District of Oak Bay’s Administration’s public engagement process has been highly criticized by four prominent community groups and many others. It also came under fire in an Ombudsperson’s Findings Report in 2017 and again at Council on October 18, 2021. Unfortunately at that Council meeting, some Council members, while ignoring the District’s public engagement commitments, considered that a decade long secondary suite community opposition and rejection and two highly criticized surveys as being sufficient secondary suite public engagement discussion, communication and consultation.
Therein lies the problem. Multi-tenant secondary suites were rejected out-of-hand by the community in 2010. A 2010 secondary suite survey, that would not have passed any standards or credibility test, was highly criticized by the Council of the day and the community. It is still on the municipal website and was provided to both the Official Community Plan Consultant and the Secondary Suite Consultant. Residential single-family neighbourhood infill that included secondary suites was also totally rejected by the community at two packed, District-sponsored open meetings in September 2016.
Secondary suites is a matter of no small controversy”, stated the previous (voted out of office) Oak Bay Mayor. He favoured multi-tenant secondary suites and infill in single-family neighbourhoods.
Yes, there have been a lot of secondary suite discussions but also: a lot of misinformation; missing impact information; questionable surveys; substantial wasted tax dollars and unnecessary staff effort. Somehow all of the substantial resident opposition and the rejection of this proven, very-difficult-to-control single-family densification are now being twisted and considered by some Council members to be positive and adequate public engagement input and discussion?
Oak Bay Watch Perspective (More Important Council information)
Important Message to Website Visitors:
Oak Bay Watch, as soon as practicable and safe, plans to hold open-house events where you can express your viewpoints. You will be able to let other residents know how you believe our District is being administered and “managed”.
In the interim we request you email us at [email protected] and let us know your views on such topics as: next year’s proposed 12% tax hike; the proposed single-family neighbourhood densification initiatives (i.e. 1500 more multi-tenant, non-taxable basement suites infill units); the recent budgeted consultant’s $120,000 single-family neighbourhood, Infill Project Charter; the District’s infrastructure and financial crisis; how you believe public engagement has influenced or not Council decisions this term, and any points raised in this newsletter.
Council Meeting Report October 18, 2021
Agenda Item 7. The final Secondary Suite Study Report:
It is difficult to understand that the secondary suite consultant has to date, (2019 through October 2021), not provided the mountain of information available about the lack of registration compliance for secondary suite as experienced in other BC communities. For example, Delta, Vancouver, Surrey and Richmond have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in unsuccessfully attempts to enforce and encourage suite registration programs.
Although this information is only a phone call away, it was not until the October 18, 2021 Council Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting that, at this late stage, the information was requested. Councillor Zhelka’s request for this basic information should have been provided long ago. It should also have been requested by the Advisory Planning Commission whose members represent the community’s interest; however, it was not. If this "suite compliance" information is provided it has yet to be determined whether the data is going to be comprehensive and clear, and if it will be included in the Secondary Suite Study Final Report.
To their credit Council members at the October 18, 2021 Council COW meeting did ask a number of relevant secondary suite impact questions. However, the Secondary Suite Consultant based his answers and community impact protections as if full suite registration compliance was a logical or sensible expectation. The reality is, and the evidence confirms it , that if the present suite zoning is changed, Oak Bay, like many other communities, will have many more unregistered, untaxed suites, on top of its present untaxed, 750 suite rental stock. Property taxpayers, the majority of whom do not own suites, will end up spending precious dollars to deal with the many impacts.
A lot of the Secondary Suite Study Report information is based on findings from the suspect secondary suite resident surveys. However, the survey and the survey questions have been highly criticized. For example, this year's Survey Question #2 “Please describe your current experience with secondary suites in Oak Bay”. The only response option provided for residents “without-a-suite” was, “I Live on a street where a secondary suite is located”, How ridiculous is this? This would be comparable to asking the many homeowner’s who experienced flood damage to their homes this year: “Did you notice any excess water?” and providing this as the only option.
Councillor Braithwaite is on record for noticing the impact of a lot more cars parked on her street. She stated garbage trucks have difficulty with their collections – and on one occasion a car has was damaged. This was most likely because, like so many other Oak Bay streets, hers had been reduced to single lane traffic. Oak Bay Fire Department please take note.
Councillor Braithwaite also stated her concerns that an increase in street parking (that will be caused by the consultant-estimated 1500 increase in secondary suite housing stock) would seriously impact Oak Bay’s character. She noted all the cars and boats parked on the streets of Victoria. Council and staff have indicated they are committed to the Official Community Plan's objective of preventing impacts to Oak Bay’s single-family character. Let’s see how this plays out?
There is a secondary suite increase solution and Oak Bay Watch will reporting on this in future newsletter publications. And at any “committed to” public opportunities such as resident discussion sessions..
More on the October 18, 2021 Council COW meeting Council discussions and new information in future Oak Bay Watch newsletters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Incompetence and mismanagement exist if good people remain silent”
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.