Housing pitched as a possibility for the future of Carnarvon Park surprised at least one resident who attended the open house this April in Oak Bay.
As part of the park master plan refresh, the district hired a consultant to look for all options to replace crumbling infrastructure in the park.
Residents were presented a handful of scenarios during an open house. Options one through three share 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 is cited as an example. Childcare was previously provided on site at Carnarvon in the now-closed building to be replaced.
A fourth option throws a second building in the mix, one that includes rental housing. The concept includes a field house of some configuration, and a second three-storey building on Henderson Road, roughly where the pickleball courts currently sit.
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The large second building with housing, sitting at the relative height of a four-storey building surprised neighbour Barbara Preston.
“That’s a biggie, 24 units of rental housing just like that,” Preston said. “There’s a huge parking issue on Allenby already … now we’re taking building 24 more housing units right on the corner.”
She worried it connects to the infill housing pressures on Oak Bay.
“I thought ‘aha’ I put the two together and that’s where the new option came from for Carnarvon Park,” Preston said.
It’s not an illogical leap. Oak Bay is among the many municipalities in B.C. subject to the province’s Housing Supply Act, tasked with delivering 664 units in the next five years. Housing was something council asked be explored in the process.
“They put forward an option that gives us something to think about. It meets the requirements we’ve asked for,” said Mayor Kevin Murdoch. “The goal is to get a ‘fairly fulsome amount of ideas’ of what people envision for the community park that is heavily used by the regional population.
Murdoch stresses the ideas present are not a “select one” scenario, but a way to spur conversation on the possibilities for the park.
“We’re just trying to throw out a number of ideas to solicit feedback,” Murdoch said. “I see zero downside in exploring these kinds of options.”
Even more important than parking and traffic concerns for Preston is the province is “going crazy trying to develop more housing” laying that need on immigration.
“At the end of the day, we have no say over things like immigration policy or things that impact that. There’s a lot of demand for housing right now. We are looking for ways of supporting the provision of new housing and different housing options,” Murdoch said.
Correlated information is expected before council this summer.
The presentation, timeline and survey are available online at connect.oakbay.ca/carnarvon-park.
Murdoch encourages everyone to participate in the survey that closes May 10.
“It’s amazing how often people raise ideas or flag something as a concern that hasn’t been thought of.”
The district has housing action program engagement events online April 25 (find the link online at connect.oakbay.ca/housing-action-program), and in person May 1 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Windsor Pavilion and May 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Monterey Recreation Centre.