Oak Bay council has ignored need for repairs

Re: “‘Daunting’ task ahead to repair crumbling Oak Bay,” April 9. Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen’s comments about the district’s crumbling infrastructure are both scandalous and disturbing. Jensen knows what both staff and the public have repeatedly made perfectly obvious, the district’s infrastructure is in critical condition and must take precedence over all new council development priorities.

Why would Jensen downplay our neglected infrastructure by stating: “Oak Bay’s aging infrastructure is not unusual for an older Canadian municipality”? While he is partially right, most municipalities have recognized this, and introduced measures to upgrade, repair and replace their aging infrastructure. Oak Bay has not done this; instead it has focused on overdensification.

The mayor repeatedly points out that he has been an Oak Bay councillor for 16 years and mayor for almost five and a half years. So why has he not heeded the crumbling infrastructure warning bells that staff have sounded for many years? The present staff is to be congratulated for bringing attention to these dire consequences.

What is equally as disturbing as his turning a blind eye to infrastructure problems, the mayor and half of council are considering a lot of new densification. Clearly, any new intensive infill or large development would take valuable staffing and finances away from infrastructure improvement.

We do not have the infrastructure or the finances to handle any more large developments and infill densification. Until councillors recognize this, they will put much more stress and strain on our infrastructure, unnecessarily increase our property taxes and most likely put residents in major debt to further their development agenda. Mary Douglas Oak Bay