Densification Agenda
The original OCP really did represent the wishes and desires of our community, and reflected the uniqueness of our streetscapes and overall community feel.
Unfortunately, the new OCP has been tailored in a way that it opens the community to irreversible abuse. It is a ticking time bomb with a real potential to turn Oak Bay into a community with pretty much the same style and problem faced by other municipalities like Langley, Surrey, Richmond and Langford.
Under the excuse of "modernizing" Oak Bay, and thereby creating a more diverse and inclusive community, the new OCP runs afoul of the interests of existing residents. With "affordable housing" as its mantra, it clearly exposes the desires of people who do not have any attachment to our community. It also obviously reflects how powerful the development industry lobby has been in generating profit from an established community where bare lots are non-existent.
If you read our extensive (and expensive) new OCP with a critical eye, you will easily agree with some of our concerns.
Info Sheet: Secondary (Basement) Suites
Read more: The myth of affordable housing
Handout: Residential Infill near You !
Unfortunately, the new OCP has been tailored in a way that it opens the community to irreversible abuse. It is a ticking time bomb with a real potential to turn Oak Bay into a community with pretty much the same style and problem faced by other municipalities like Langley, Surrey, Richmond and Langford.
Under the excuse of "modernizing" Oak Bay, and thereby creating a more diverse and inclusive community, the new OCP runs afoul of the interests of existing residents. With "affordable housing" as its mantra, it clearly exposes the desires of people who do not have any attachment to our community. It also obviously reflects how powerful the development industry lobby has been in generating profit from an established community where bare lots are non-existent.
If you read our extensive (and expensive) new OCP with a critical eye, you will easily agree with some of our concerns.
Info Sheet: Secondary (Basement) Suites
Read more: The myth of affordable housing
Handout: Residential Infill near You !
OCP Implementation
Why is the OCP one of our most important issue?
- The new Community Plan does not limit development in any way. It has a real potential to effectively transform all of Oak Bay (except Uplands) into a multi-dwelling community (see OCP page 79).
- Our Zoning, our setting and our Single-Family neighbourhoods define our liveability and set our Community apart.
- Multiplexes, laneway housing, row houses, basement suites etc; and keeping our quiet neighbourhoods, are not compatible goals.
- Zoning once enacted cannot be controlled – as per monster houses. (You cannot pick and choose where these new developments go.)
- Two or more dwellings if allowed on a lot, will rapidly increase population, create traffic & parking problems, raise property taxes, and reduce our service levels.
- Current development directions are opposite to those intended by previous Councils & Oak Bay’s founders. The new OCP even fast-tracks densification in Oak Bay
History of the OCP Revision Process
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