Opinion

I am writing to add support to Keith Norbury’s call to recognize and preserve the fish market on the wharf at the foot of Beacon Avenue.

The recent letter from Mr. Diller states that housing is a regional issue. True, and so are agricultural lands and natural landscapes. Municipalities do not share an equal responsibility to provide all amenities. The CRD’s Regional Growth Strategy defines an Urban Containment Policy Area to accommodate new growth for the whole region.

The CRD is at a crossroads. The cost of buying and renting has ballooned beyond the reach of many citizens. City officials now have a choice to make – continue with the status quo or build out the “missing middle.”

Central Saanich Council does not support mega houses on residential lots.

Few would argue that the character of Sidney has changed significantly over the last several years. As an individual who chose to move to Sidney because of its special character, I am deeply concerned the critical balance between old and new, historical and modern, is quickly becoming unbalanced. The most concerning aspect that I see is the decreasing voice that local residents have in determining the future of our community.

We echo the mayor’s celebration of cycling and pedestrian improvements, and his safety reminders in his Aug. 4 letter “Saanich walks the talk on safety improvements.”

With reference to the Aug. 5 Oak Bay News front-page article, the information provided just supports all of the criticism heaped on this secondary suite survey. The survey designers did not provide an option to allow residents to say that they did not favour changing the zoning to allow multi-tenant suites. The survey only asked “if” the zoning were changed to allow more suites in Oak Bay’s single-family neighbourhoods (the consultant estimates a 1,500 increase) what conditions would you favour?

Thank you so much to Zoe Ducklow and Black Press Media for the perseverance it took to get to camp at Fairy Creek.

Following up on the letters regarding development (North Saanich becoming a Langford, Central Saanich losing its character), I’ve had family roots in the CRD going back over 110 years and spent a quarter-century in Central Saanich.

Right now, our community has an extraordinary opportunity to determine the future of Oak Bay’s publicly owned marina buildings, lands and surrounding waters for only the second time in 60 years.