I hear you, and a big part of my concern over this process, and others is the (now well founded) cynicism that develops around the work of council. Make no mistake, it is not a given that Oak Bay be stagnant, it’s a choice.

I could not be more deeply disappointed in this outcome. It is in my opinion a huge missed opportunity to move Oak Bay forward, build a more vibrant and welcoming community, and truly *Plan* for the future. Nevertheless, expect me to continue to champion positive change in 2026.

My comments spoke to the process representing a failure of leadership and deeply damaging to the credibility of council. I stated once more: How can we now expect the community to trust us not to set aside their input in the future?

The amendments brought by the Mayor on the day of the OCP debate set aside input from thousands of residents that formed the draft OCP map and cut over 90% of the potential housing from the plan. Am I going to vigorously take issue with the process? You bet I am.

“Minister Robertson warned the PBO was not taking into consideration how much of an impact the government's housing policy will have on private investment...”
Well, private investment is the only avenue we have to pursue, as we haven’t seen a dime of federal funding invested in our community.

We set aside the better part of $2million in provincial grant funding to update our OCP and every aspect of our building and planning department to get more housing built. We have a 20 year target of 3,700 units. We have to plan 5,10,20 years out- don’t lecture us on how housing investment happens.

Introduce yourself with 5 concerts:
- AC/DC
- Lollapalooza ‘92
- The Tragically Hip
- Vampire Weekend
- Weird Al Yankovic

I sat at the meetings and talked through what it meant with dozens of people. There were lots with concerns. But the vast majority believed that being intentional and fact-based in planning density was the way forward. Shame to have all that input dismissed as “a Vancouver consultant’s plan”

However people view the *outcome* of the OCP engagement it was in fact a robust process that walked a tricky line- we didn’t really have a modern OCP until 2014, this was the first revision done under exigent timeframe. Nevertheless it presented multiple options to public in an understandable way.

“…The most disappointing part of this process is seeing residents be disillusioned, frustrated and cynical of Council’s handling of this issue. I have serious concerns about the process taken to arrive at this draft OCP”.

“Most importantly my concerns about process centre on what will we tell our community the next time we ask for their input? How can they trust that council will not set aside their contributions in favour of a design of their own?…

Not set yet (will be done by staff in the next couple days I expect), but will almost certainly be the 9/10 of December (there’s a council meeting on Monday the 8th).

Blade Runner.

Public Hearing coming up likely Dec. 1/2- would be great to hear voices that are concerned about the process followed here to speak up. Addressing the false dichotomy between what the mayor proposed and “massive densification” is important. This is not an either/or, and the process is at issue.