Diminishes the quality of life

Dear Oak Bay Council,

I am writing to express my objection to the five storey development proposal of 2326 Oak Bay Ave., my objection is to the size and height of the proposed building and the ways in which the proposed development does not align itself to the official community plan objectives.

Once the council gives permission to build a five storey building the next developer will ask for seven and then it will be ten and before we know it the Village scape will be completely altered from what it is now. There is a reason people wish to live here and in Cook Street Village, they are Villages and not like towns or cities, villages have smaller buildings and small shops.

Fifteen months ago I purchased a home in Oak Bay. I chose to buy this home chiefly because of it's wonderful location within walking distance to Oak Bay Village and also because of it’s proximity to Windsor Park and the ocean. I love to patronize the small local shops and walk the length of the Village on Oak Bay Ave. I really appreciate the low profile and harmonious development that comprises the buildings within the village. Not all the buildings are beautiful, however there is a wonderful symmetry to the whole place, which is becoming rare because citizens forget it takes thought and conscious diligence to preserve from exploitation that which exists, change is always offered as better, but of course that is not true. I think our small community offers an amazing quality of life, which will change if you give permission to increasingly larger developments within the Village. I believe you will endanger the ‘small shop’, environment that we have here, restaurants, pub, coffee shops, book store, toy store, grocery shops, boutiques, etc.,etc., I value the Oak Bay Village to the degree that I will often spend a little more for something here rather than getting in my car and driving to purchase it at a chain store. This is a thriving community, Oak Bay Village is an oasis in a frenetic World, once it becomes part of the developers World, ( often they don’t even live here, but elsewhere) then we become part of someone else’s bottom line, someone’s profit margin and not the community we are. We will have lost what is of such value and we will not be able to go back to being a Village of charm, with this amazing quality of life.

To summarize I think this development is too big for the lot, it endangers and most likely will kill the ancient Garry Oak next to it,it diminishes the quality of life of all the pre existing neighbours, shadowing and changing their homes. It sets a precedent for increasing the height of buildings within the Village area which I think is a mistake and I fervently hope you will not allow it to happen.