Sharing neighbourhoods makes sense

Re: Council gets tough on senior’s suites, Nov. 21

While we don’t know all the ins and outs of Oak Bay resident Judi Bowman’s recent run-in with the Basement Suite Police yet, it seems that Oak Bay’s Secondary Suite Committee members really have their work cut out for them.

As the former owner of a lovely old South Oak Bay home with an equally lovely basement suite, I hope that this committee will be looking farther afield than Oak Bay to address what is already a challenging issue as rental vacancy rates shrink, as seniors look for ways to be financially able to remain at home, or as their grown children look for practical options to house aging parents in their homes.

A common approach throughout our province is for municipalities to allow secondary suites in all single-family zones, or – as in New Westminster – in all single-family zones except for certain neighbourhoods.

Parking, always a touchy subject – and which appears to be the issue that got Judi Bowman’s Carnarvon Street suite noticed by Oak Bay Council – is also addressed in a number of creative ways in other B.C. communities.  

Some municipalities, like North Vancouver, have zoning specifying that secondary suites must be located in the principal structure on the site.

In suite-friendly Whistler and Kelowna, however, suites may also be located in separate buildings to create what they call carriage house accommodation. What a terrific idea.

Then there’s the whole bylaw enforcement question. In New Westminster, municipal enforcement of suites built before a certain date (like the Carnarvon Street suite that has been there since at least 1984) focuses only on health and safety issues, which seems to make sense to me.

I suspect that there are many in Oak Bay who would just prefer to have no secondary suites at all allowed in our beautiful municipality, legal or otherwise. Period.

But for those who have created fine accommodation here for tenants or family members, sharing our neighbourhoods seems like the right thing to do.

Carolyn Thomas

Oak Bay

Maintain the status quo

Re: Council gets tough on senior’s suites, Nov. 21

Oak Bay has recently formed a committee to research legalizing secondary suites as a way to increase density, create more affordable housing and keep seniors in their houses.

Oak Bay currently allows two borders and apparently many homes already have suites. Most suites now, are kept secretive and inconspicuous, they are usually rented to quiet students or singles often without cars.

Landlords must ensure tenants are respectful of their neighbours, so they are not to be reported. In fact they almost police themselves, as there are as few as five to 10 complaints per year. This will not be the case with legal suites.

Alterations for legal suites can also be far more extensive, making removal impractical when young families eventually need more space or a senior wants to sell to a family.

I do not condone illegal suites, but merely legalizing suites, does not make existing suites legal. Nor does it mean people with substandard suites will improve their suites.

It does though, bring up issues like parking, noise, enforcement, inspections, garbage, sewage, schools, infrastructure, policing, etc.

Are we suggesting financially struggling seniors should hire contractors and spend potentially tens of thousands of dollars converting their houses to accommodate legal suites as a temporary solution to remain in their houses?

Legally converted houses will permanently remain suited and this will open the door for full rentals despite any bylaw.

I have a young family and I have worked hard to be able to afford to live in a quiet neighbourhood.

Will having legal suites beside me negatively effect the value and desirability of my house and neighbourhood?

Status quo is working just fine.

Doug Trumble

Oak Bay

Consider the benefits of a new voting system

Newspapers are very important as they relay information to the general public. In the interest of making sure people know all the options available to them, I think you should include more information about the Single Transferrable Vote system of voting.

For those who don’t know, the S.T.V. system is when the ridings are made larger and more than one candidates is elected from the riding. This would mean that there would be more than one representative from each party in each riding.

When voting, voters number candidates in the order of their preferences so that if their number one choice is not chosen or already has enough votes, choice two or three would get credit. However, it is not necessary to vote for more than one candidate. The voter chooses how many people they want to vote for and only number the candidates they would like to be elected. This system would help eliminate voting for the party not the candidate.

To be adopted, S.T.V. must be supported by 60 per cent of the population. During the last vote in 2005, 57 per cent of voters supported it, only 2.3 per cent short of being passed. It is commonly accepted that many people did not vote for it because they did not properly understand it.

This issue is very important right now because this topic will again be up for vote on May 12, 2009. People should be able to know what they are voting about.

I believe that this system would greatly improve the B.C. government by making the voting more representative. It would give voters more power.

If I was a voter – I’m 15 years old and in Grade 10 – I would definitely want more power. If that also meant I would be better represented and better able to contribute to choosing a more responsible government, well that would be amazing.

Please feature more articles about this topic so that people are better informed and better able to make their own educated decision.

Liz Durwood

Saanich

Candidate thanks supporters

I’d like to thank all the amazing volunteers who worked on my campaign for Oak Bay Council. Without your tireless efforts I would not have been able to get my message out to the community.

Thank you so much for all the time and energy that you committed to delivering leaflets, helping with the launch party and generally keeping me on my toes. Thanks also to each of the donors to my campaign. Your generosity made it all possible.

To the voters that put their faith in me, a newcomer and an upstart by many people’s standards, I thank you. As much as I’m disappointed with not being elected, I am proud of the 2,024 votes I did receive.Your support and encouragement has been inspiring.

I want to say how much I got out of this experience. I met so many of you, and I am so happy to know that I’ve got over 2,000 friends in this community that share my values and vision for Oak Bay. I am excited to get to know you better and to continue to work with you in the future.

Michelle Kirby

Oak Bay

Tara Ney victory not surprising

Re: Business as usual, Nov. 19

Mayor Christopher Causton richly deserved his re-election for what I consider his good judgement and even-handedness in dealing with council issues.

Yet his comments on hearing the election results of his own council surprised me. According to your correspondent Vivian Moreau, our mayor was completely caught off guard by victory of newcomer Tara Ney, who came second overall.

Reading what Ney said about reaching out to all levels of our community, of helping to empower and consult citizens to provide bottom up decision-making, and to work on building our environmental sustainability, I was thrilled.

She also brings valuable experience in the field of conflict resolution.

Judging by the votes she got, it’s my guess there are a lot of others in Oak Bay who figure she has valuable experience to provide, in addition to running a good campaign, not that that isn’t also useful.

Mary-June Pettyfer

Oak Bay