Mandates created to help Oak Bay build more homes are causing a stir around the council table.
Couns. Cairine Green, Lesley Watson and Hazel Braithwaite voiced their opposition at a July 21 meeting to the province’s latest housing directives outlined in a letter sent to Mayor Kevin Murdoch on July 17.
In part, the orders require the district to tweak its development application procedures bylaw to delegate minor variance decisions to staff, instead of council.
“I have never seen directives like this before,” said Green. “It neutralizes the role of our planning staff, and it neutralizes our role as elected officials representing our community.”
Braithwaite expressed a similar sentiment.
“The delegations to staff – I'm not really happy with that because it takes 98 per cent of our job away from us,” she said.
The province, however, claimed the move would “improve homebuilding timelines.”
“Oak Bay is one of the most unaffordable communities in Canada and only built 16 net new homes out of 56 of their first-year housing targets,” a Ministry of Housing spokesperson told the Oak Bay News. “Our directive that minor variances be delegated to staff will free up council time for more complex decisions.”
The new orders also oblige Oak Bay to revise its parking facilities bylaw to decrease stall requirements in multi-unit developments to at least one from two, which the spokesperson said would free up land “to house people rather than provide space for cars.”
Watson opposed the directives because she claimed they didn't come with justification, “the policy analysis or background for it.”
"How do we know if these particular requirements make sense in the context of our own community?" she added.
But the province said the “delegation of minor variances is something the municipality has been considering over the last year" and that parking minimums were identified as outdated by the advisor appointed on Jan. 30 by former housing minister Ravi Kahlon.
“The advisor’s report outlined why these directives and other recommendations are needed in Oak Bay to support meeting housing targets,” added the spokesperson.
Council voted to receive the letter.
The district has until Dec. 31, 2025 to make these changes, moved up from the previous Jan. 31, 2026.
