Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch has announced plans to seek a second term in office.
Murdoch said that in his first term, he tried to offer a different approach to good governance, addressing financial shortfalls and tackling housing issues. And despite the pandemic having an impact on council’s goals, the district’s financial health, services and transparency have improved, he said.
“Now that we’ve dealt with a lot of the structural and systemic issues, there are more improvements in services and new initiatives to come,” Murdoch said.
Murdoch, who served two terms as a councillor before becoming mayor, said his top priorities include the development of new commercial village area plans to make the area a draw for residents and tourists and an outdoor pool for the region.
Murdoch would like to see plans developed for commercial village areas on Oak Bay Avenue, Cadboro Bay Road and Estevan Avenue including looking at their adjacent corridors where multi-family housing is largely concentrated in the municipality.
The idea is to give guidance and direction for what the municipality would like to see in those areas.
Some commercial buildings are fairly old and Murdoch said he believes potential changes would have a better outcome if plans were laid out now in consultation with the community.
“We need to have a plan so that new buildings that come in can adapt to it.”
Infrastructure needs to be considered as well. Oak Bay services run underground making upgrading and even relocating a street light standard a difficult prospect, he said.
Given the success of patio spaces, there’s a strong case to be made for widening the sidewalk on the north side of Oak Bay Avenue to encourage more cafes and more activity, Murdoch said.
As for the outdoor pool, he plans to seek partnerships with all levels of government as well as private donors to pay for it.
There are a couple of spaces in that municipality and in Saanich that might work, he said. “The push back has always been they are remarkably expensive to build and operate. But you know, they are really fantastic community places.”
The municipal election is on Oct. 15 with advance voting Oct. 5 to 12. Voters can also cast a ballot by mail.
Oak Bay council has six councillors in addition to the mayor. Only two councillor candidates have officially filed their nomination papers: incumbent Cairine Green and newcomer Lesley Watson. Incumbent councillor Andrew Appleton has also indicated that he plans to run.
Candidates have until 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 9 to file their nomination papers.
Oak Bay has traditionally had a relatively high voter turnout, with 53 per cent of eligible electors voting in the 2018 election.
— With a file from Carla Wilson
