Oak Bay looks set to embark on a pair of “quick win” bikeways after getting approved by council Monday night.
The decisions came after passionate input from resident cyclists and those who visit the community.
Perhaps the most impactful came from Oak Bay resident Dr. Brian Wall, who noted he’s part of an active biking family. Both he and his partner cycle their two young children to child care, then commute to work. As an emergency physician who works at both Royal Jubilee Hospital and Victoria General Hospital, he cycles to Victoria or View Royal.
“I’m one of the many team members who treats bicycle trauma … I have pronounced people dead from bicycle trauma in this (region),” he told council. “This is not bad drivers, it’s bad infrastructure and it’s bad legislation.”
Wall cited a lack of action and appropriate timeline on council’s part as shameful for the district and asked council to consider the priorities as parking versus injuries and death.
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In agreement with the calls for safer cycling from other speakers at the July 17 meeting, resident Andrea Careless also asked that the district dispel the image that cyclists are privileged.
“We need an engagement in Oak Bay – and actually everywhere – with people who hate cyclists and hate bike lanes. I mean, these are nice people, they just really need more education in my point of view,” she said.
Two new routes and engagement are both on the agenda after council perused a plan by staff for potential implementation of parts of the 2011 Active Transportation Plan incorporated as part of the official community plan more than a decade ago.
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Council approved creating detailed designs for both the Henderson Road Neighbourhood bikeway and the Haultain-Estevan Neighbourhood Bikeway identified as “quick wins” in the 2023 Draft Active Transportation Plan – which staff and council members noted is a focused version of the 2011 plan with no cuts. The comprehensive plan provides more projects than conceivably possible so staff suggested the two as “quick win” priorities that could be implemented and be ready to apply for grant funding.
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Coun. Andrew Appleton pitched replacing the Henderson route with the more complicated connection of Cadboro Bay Road as a north/south connector. It is in the active transportation plan as a priority but not a “quick win.”
“I would like to see us be significantly more ambitious with what we take on in the near term,” he said.
The Cadboro Bay route takes advantage of the Victoria lanes underway and accesses Willows elementary, which has been raised repeatedly as a safety concern, he noted.
“It is not a quick win, it’s an essential project.”
The motion was defeated, with Green, Watson, Paterson and Murdoch opposed. Coun. Hazel Braithwaite was not in attendance.
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Council endorsed the active transportation strategy with amendments, adding that detailed designs and network planning use AAA designs as a default; the strategy include end-of-trip facilities; and the use of maze gates be reviewed, in light of the uptick in e-bike and cargo bike use in recent years.
Coun. Cairine Green implored after the first look at the plan that it be a positive undertaking not a divisive one.
“Cycling and driving don’t seem to be a unifying topic at the moment. It has been a really divisive topic in some communities. We have demonized drivers, we have somehow demonized cyclists. I want us to get away from that,” she said.
Murdoch suggested, and council agreed, to delay revisiting the policy decision to make Henderson Road bike lanes full time when all of council is expected in attendance, and they meet as council rather than committee.
It would revisit a narrow decision earlier the year to roll the subject into the priorities planning.
That is expected to come up at council Monday (July 24). Council meets at 7 p.m. at municipal hall, find the agenda and ways to participate in person and online at oakbay.civicweb.net/portal.
Decisions made during committee of the whole must also be approved by council.