The first stop as the Community Association of Oak Bay reaches out to all corners of the community, is the University of Victoria’s draft campus plan.
“We want to go out and start these community conversations in Oak Bay. We’re going to try to create partnerships in the community,” said Kris Nichols, CAOB president.
“We want to share information and ideas. It’s really important that we do that.”
They’ll start to build community in a partnership with Emmanuel Baptist Church, which hosts a Tuesday meeting to talk about the final stages of the University of Victoria’s 10-year draft campus plan.
Traffic, parking and student resident issues are ongoing and will likely earn a chunk of the final discussion as community associations were invited to weigh in on the final 2015 updates on the 2003 plan. It also underwent public review January through March.
“The campus is a good neighbour and it wants to continue to be a good neighbour so they want to hear from their neighbours in north Henderson,” Nichols said.
Nichols expects green space on campus, transportation – including parking, transit and walkways – and housing to be popular topics.
“There could be a huge range of issues that people want to talk about,” Nichols said.
While the official community engagement deadline for this round has has come and gone, Neil Connelly, UVic’s director of campus planning, is expected to attend the meeting.
“We want to bring Oak Bay residents together and talk about making Oak Bay an even better place to live. So we really think it’s important to get out in these communities and talk to them,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to it because I like to engage people and it’s nice to engage in their community.”
The Community Association of Oak Bay and Emmanuel Baptist Church host the meeting at the church on Cedar Hill X Road on Nov. 17. Learn more about the draft campus plan at uvic.ca/campusplanning.