Newsletter Sept 25 2022: The Impact of Council’s Legalizing Secondary Suites in Oak Bay
The implications of Oak Bay Council’s September 20, 2022 approval of several zoning bylaw amendments will be far reaching, The amendments legalize secondary suites and permit up to six renters in addition to increasing street parking. These zoning changes will have serious implications for Oak Bay Residents and the Community .
This Council’s decision will live in disrepute for years to come.
Council members, ignoring experience to the contrary in many other municipalities, irrationally claim that providing bylaw restrictions and conditions will prevent an upsurge in illegal suites. But there is ample evidence to show that this will be the result. BC municipalities have spent millions of dollars, but have had minimal success in achieving secondary suite bylaw compliance.
Increasing the number of renters from two to six will also intensify the stress on Oak Bay’s fragile infrastructure and impose many other negative impacts on the community. Also increasing the District’s population to this extent without generating any additional property tax revenue, is extremely poor financial management.
The BC Secondary Suite Guidelines promoted and encouraged BC municipalities to legalize secondary suites in single family homes. The “Issues and Challenges” section of the BC Guidelines provides a detailed account of the problems BC municipalities continue to struggle with after approving secondary suite legalization.
The Secondary Suite Guidelines identify the following secondary suite impacts many, if not all, come with the (six renter) secondary suite territory - (Note: BC Secondary Suite Guideline’s quotations are in italics).
Fairness of property taxes: “Owners of homes with illegal suites may not be paying their fair share of property taxes”. Rents only provide revenue for the homeowner. Therefore, no additional property tax is generated to pay for the increased services required for the added renter population. This could be a substantial increased service demand if there are anywhere near the consultant estimated 1600 new suites.
Standards for health and safety: “Construction of suites without a building permit means that the health and safety standards set out in the BC Building Code may not be met.” An unregistered secondary suite will not be inspected for fire and safety or building code regulations. Note: Kitchen stoves are the number one cause of fires in Canada followed by overloaded wiring. Many basement suites also pose heath risks to tenants (See Appendix #1).
Parking: “A typical approach to dealing with this issue is to require additional off-street parking for legal suites”. However, if more than one renter has a car or truck street parking will increase. Council seems not to have noticed that Oak Bay’s neighbourhood streets were designed for single-family homes, and not to provide additional parking for so much increased rental accommodation – (See Oak Bay Watch Newsletter appendix September 6, 2022).
Bylaw enforcement: ” The question of whether to be reactive (responding to complaints) or proactive (seeking out illegal suites and enforcing the bylaw) is a significant issue for local government.” Many more suites (especially with 6 renters) will mean many more resident complaints (currently 1 per month). There have been many complaints over the years about the lack of enforcement of many of Oak Bay’s present Bylaws.
Administrative costs: “For smaller jurisdictions with scarce staff resources, dealing with suites may not be a priority. Suite programs can also be difficult to monitor and enforce thus creating higher administrative costs for local governments.” Property tax expenditure doesn’t seem to be an issue for this council. For example, although Oak Bay is a “smaller jurisdiction”, Council is going ahead with incurring significant suite registration and administration costs.
At the September 20, 2022 meeting Council members were informed about the necessity and substantial cost of implementing the Oak Bay Fire Department Master Plan Recommendations that include a new fire hall, and that a substantial financial increase is needed for the Active Transportation Program. Both will be necessary sooner than later due to the anticipated increase in secondary suites.
In addition to all of these impacts and costs, many more property tax dollars will be required for infrastructure upgrades, additional enforcement, traffic control, street calming, street signage etc.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
We are at a loss to understand why Council would approve Councillor Appleton’s motion to prioritize secondary suites and infill ahead of adding density to our village areas. Council, must know that the majority of residents have made very clear in surveys that over-development in singe-family neighbourhoods is a serious concern.
It would have been much more acceptable to residents and to Oak Bay Watch, and a much better climate change option, to add three of four floors of new rental housing units above retail shops in our shopping precincts, already well served by public transit.
The rational is obvious. The additional low-rise housing would be built in commercial corridors where traffic, parking, shopping and transportation have been planned, and where there are very few gardens and green spaces to lose.
However, for some reason, the Oak Bay Community Climate Action Working Group did not oppose it’s chair’s, Councillor Appleton’s, motion.
It also seems to us that if Council’s contention is that Oak Bay’s “end of life” infrastructure has the capacity to handle all of this new density, both existing and proposed, it’s questionable why:
Council has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a secondary suite legalization process instead of using these tax dollars to address the infrastructure deficit upgrades, active transportation and the planned park and fire department improvements.
It is not clear why Council did not follow Victoria’s responsible lead by deferring single-family densification to the next Council. After all it will be the next Council that will have to deal with the inevitable negative impacts and costs.
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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.
Appendix #1
Government of Canada: COVID-19: Guidance on indoor ventilation during the pandemic – July 2022
“The virus causing COVID-19 is known to spread through droplets and aerosols, which represent a risk particularly in indoor situations where people are in close proximity”.
Wikipedia, Encyclopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basement apartment
Basement Suites - Health risks to tenants
“Some health risks to people who live in basements have been noted, for example mold, radon, and risk of injury/death due to fire. It has been suggested that a basement suite is the last type of dwelling a tenant should look for because of the risk of mold. However, due to demand for affordable housing, basement suites are often the only available housing for some low-income families and individuals.
Airborne spores can cause mold to grow in damp and unventilated areas, such as basements. Presence of mold can lead to "respiratory symptoms, respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis and asthma", as well as personal belongings being contaminated by mold.
Basement suite tenants are more likely to be injured or die due to a fire in the house. Many landlords do not follow fire code regulations, and often such regulations are not enforced by governments.
During flooding, these apartment suites are extremely dangerous.“
The implications of Oak Bay Council’s September 20, 2022 approval of several zoning bylaw amendments will be far reaching, The amendments legalize secondary suites and permit up to six renters in addition to increasing street parking. These zoning changes will have serious implications for Oak Bay Residents and the Community .
This Council’s decision will live in disrepute for years to come.
Council members, ignoring experience to the contrary in many other municipalities, irrationally claim that providing bylaw restrictions and conditions will prevent an upsurge in illegal suites. But there is ample evidence to show that this will be the result. BC municipalities have spent millions of dollars, but have had minimal success in achieving secondary suite bylaw compliance.
Increasing the number of renters from two to six will also intensify the stress on Oak Bay’s fragile infrastructure and impose many other negative impacts on the community. Also increasing the District’s population to this extent without generating any additional property tax revenue, is extremely poor financial management.
The BC Secondary Suite Guidelines promoted and encouraged BC municipalities to legalize secondary suites in single family homes. The “Issues and Challenges” section of the BC Guidelines provides a detailed account of the problems BC municipalities continue to struggle with after approving secondary suite legalization.
The Secondary Suite Guidelines identify the following secondary suite impacts many, if not all, come with the (six renter) secondary suite territory - (Note: BC Secondary Suite Guideline’s quotations are in italics).
Fairness of property taxes: “Owners of homes with illegal suites may not be paying their fair share of property taxes”. Rents only provide revenue for the homeowner. Therefore, no additional property tax is generated to pay for the increased services required for the added renter population. This could be a substantial increased service demand if there are anywhere near the consultant estimated 1600 new suites.
Standards for health and safety: “Construction of suites without a building permit means that the health and safety standards set out in the BC Building Code may not be met.” An unregistered secondary suite will not be inspected for fire and safety or building code regulations. Note: Kitchen stoves are the number one cause of fires in Canada followed by overloaded wiring. Many basement suites also pose heath risks to tenants (See Appendix #1).
Parking: “A typical approach to dealing with this issue is to require additional off-street parking for legal suites”. However, if more than one renter has a car or truck street parking will increase. Council seems not to have noticed that Oak Bay’s neighbourhood streets were designed for single-family homes, and not to provide additional parking for so much increased rental accommodation – (See Oak Bay Watch Newsletter appendix September 6, 2022).
Bylaw enforcement: ” The question of whether to be reactive (responding to complaints) or proactive (seeking out illegal suites and enforcing the bylaw) is a significant issue for local government.” Many more suites (especially with 6 renters) will mean many more resident complaints (currently 1 per month). There have been many complaints over the years about the lack of enforcement of many of Oak Bay’s present Bylaws.
Administrative costs: “For smaller jurisdictions with scarce staff resources, dealing with suites may not be a priority. Suite programs can also be difficult to monitor and enforce thus creating higher administrative costs for local governments.” Property tax expenditure doesn’t seem to be an issue for this council. For example, although Oak Bay is a “smaller jurisdiction”, Council is going ahead with incurring significant suite registration and administration costs.
At the September 20, 2022 meeting Council members were informed about the necessity and substantial cost of implementing the Oak Bay Fire Department Master Plan Recommendations that include a new fire hall, and that a substantial financial increase is needed for the Active Transportation Program. Both will be necessary sooner than later due to the anticipated increase in secondary suites.
In addition to all of these impacts and costs, many more property tax dollars will be required for infrastructure upgrades, additional enforcement, traffic control, street calming, street signage etc.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
We are at a loss to understand why Council would approve Councillor Appleton’s motion to prioritize secondary suites and infill ahead of adding density to our village areas. Council, must know that the majority of residents have made very clear in surveys that over-development in singe-family neighbourhoods is a serious concern.
It would have been much more acceptable to residents and to Oak Bay Watch, and a much better climate change option, to add three of four floors of new rental housing units above retail shops in our shopping precincts, already well served by public transit.
The rational is obvious. The additional low-rise housing would be built in commercial corridors where traffic, parking, shopping and transportation have been planned, and where there are very few gardens and green spaces to lose.
However, for some reason, the Oak Bay Community Climate Action Working Group did not oppose it’s chair’s, Councillor Appleton’s, motion.
It also seems to us that if Council’s contention is that Oak Bay’s “end of life” infrastructure has the capacity to handle all of this new density, both existing and proposed, it’s questionable why:
- Are residents paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, in addition to their property taxes, to replace the failed municipal sewer lines from their property line to the main drain? Note: Oak Bay is the only CRD Municipality that imposes this charge.
- Has the infrastructure not been able to handle the additional weather event rainfall that has overwhelmed the District’s storm drains and caused widespread flooding?
- Has there been a number of serious pipe bursts that have flooded so many homes?
- Are Infrastructure upgrades and replacement such a high resident priority?
Council has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a secondary suite legalization process instead of using these tax dollars to address the infrastructure deficit upgrades, active transportation and the planned park and fire department improvements.
It is not clear why Council did not follow Victoria’s responsible lead by deferring single-family densification to the next Council. After all it will be the next Council that will have to deal with the inevitable negative impacts and costs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Appendix #1
Government of Canada: COVID-19: Guidance on indoor ventilation during the pandemic – July 2022
“The virus causing COVID-19 is known to spread through droplets and aerosols, which represent a risk particularly in indoor situations where people are in close proximity”.
Wikipedia, Encyclopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basement apartment
Basement Suites - Health risks to tenants
“Some health risks to people who live in basements have been noted, for example mold, radon, and risk of injury/death due to fire. It has been suggested that a basement suite is the last type of dwelling a tenant should look for because of the risk of mold. However, due to demand for affordable housing, basement suites are often the only available housing for some low-income families and individuals.
Airborne spores can cause mold to grow in damp and unventilated areas, such as basements. Presence of mold can lead to "respiratory symptoms, respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis and asthma", as well as personal belongings being contaminated by mold.
Basement suite tenants are more likely to be injured or die due to a fire in the house. Many landlords do not follow fire code regulations, and often such regulations are not enforced by governments.
During flooding, these apartment suites are extremely dangerous.“