While residences set out a potential option for the new building planned for an Oak Bay park, nearby resident Barbara Preston worries it could become the norm.
“I started it because I noticed that proposal for housing in Carnarvon Park at the open house,” Preston told the Oak Bay News. “We’re asking the district not consider housing in this park or any other park in Oak Bay.”
As part of the master plan refresh for Carnarvon Park, the district hired a consultant to look for all options to replace crumbling infrastructure. The April open house was among the public input sessions into the new building planned as part of the park’s revamp.
There, residents were presented four potential scenarios. Three showed a variety of field house options from a single-storey building with a concession stand, universal washroom with private stalls, two team change rooms, electrical/mechanical room and storage to a two-storey building with those amenities plus a community room, small office, covered patio and childcare. The building in Windsor Park was cited as an example. Childcare was previously provided on site at Carnarvon in the now-closed building to be replaced.
A fourth option included a field house, and a second multi-storey building including rental housing atop a pickleball facility roughly where the current courts are in the former lacrosse box.
As it stands out as worrisome for Preston, she started a traditional petition – out knocking door-to-door with a piece of paper, gathering signatures in the neighbourhood.
“As Oak Bay – and all of Victoria – continues to densify, it becomes even more important to preserve our current public green space for everyone’s use,” Preston reiterates the words on the petition.
An attached flyer cites the added concern that Oak Bay is among the communities legislated by the province to create more housing. Under the 2023 Housing Supply Act, the district is expected to deliver 664 units by 2028 and housing was something council asked be explored in the Carnarvon building process.
“Once housing goes in there, we’re not getting park land back there no matter what happens. We don’t think that should happen in Carnarvon or any other Oak Bay park,” Preston said. “That is a concern for us but we don’t know if this is a sign of other parks to come.”
The exploration doesn’t indicate a shift in policy, as the flyer seems to indicate, Mayor Kevin Murdoch said.
“We’re trying to look at potential for housing any time we’re looking at new buildings,” he said. “It’s certainly not the cornerstone of the ask on Carnarvon.”
District-owned new builds are infrequent in the community, the last was the Windsor Park Pavilion two decades ago, he added. “What we’re looking for here is not a yes (or) no.”
The petition, which has about 50 names so far, came as some surprise, given the public feedback avenues provided this spring, with the open house and an open online survey, he said. All afforded a more fulsome opportunity to provide feedback than a signature on a page. Other opportunities will present themselves later in the process as well, he said.
Preston plans to present the petition to council this month, then again in late summer or early fall, after Oak Bay’s August break in council meetings.
That’s similar timing to when council will see a report on the feedback received this spring – which could come as early as September.
“That’s an ideal time for people to participate because there will be much more tangible set of options for people to consider,” Murdoch said.
“I think there’s a not unreasonable concern that we don’t want to lose green space in parks," he added, noting it's not something taken lightly, but the project is looking at buildings more than parks.
He looks forward to the options of professionals and the community on how to use the “small space” and effectively fit in the updated splash park, tennis and pickleball courts and other multi-use facilities. The heart of the issue is making it the best park it can be, Murdoch said.
“We have limited space and we’re trying to find good recreation facilities and services that meet community need now and through the decades, the nuance is important when we make decisions.”
The open house presentation and project updates are available online at connect.oakbay.ca/carnarvon-park.
