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Letter: Viable, older homes being lost

Construction impacts neighbourhoods with noise, and loss of trees and charm

Throughout Oak Bay, perfectly viable and often charming houses are being removed or crushed and replaced by massive houses, often on “easy-care” (read “concrete”) lots.

Trees are cut down, and the neighbourhood is traumatized by the mud, noise and pollution of heavy trucks, power equipment, and bellowing workers with their inevitable cranked-up radios. Fines resulting from by-law complaints are factored into the cost of doing business.

Often the replacement houses are office-block knock-offs, a.k.a. “West Coast Modern,” totally at odds with the surrounding aesthetic.

Mayor Jensen and several council members campaigned on a platform of preserving Oak Bay’s ambiance and encouraging green initiatives. Although the greenest house is the one already on site, they have since apparently ceded control of this lovely place to developers. These people are presumably attracted to Oak Bay because of its beauty, which they then proceed to erode.

Hilary Knight

Oak Bay