Oak Bay's Most Wanted

Lost grey parrot near Eastbourne

Have you seen this parrot?

Photo · Lori Hargreaves · Oak Bay Local Facebook group

The "most wanted" up top is a real bird, and his family would love him home.

A grey African parrot got loose near Eastbourne and Dalhousie. He belongs to the family that runs the Salam grocery at that corner, and they'd love him back. If you spot him on a fence, a wire, or a backyard tree, please don't chase him. Note where he is and reach the owner through the post below. A grey parrot won't blend in for long, so one sighting could be the one that brings him home.

Sources · Oak Bay Local Facebook group

Posters from around Oak Bay. Tap any to open the source.

Click any poster to read the full notice

Real photos making the rounds in the Oak Bay Local Facebook group this week.

~ When the scene from your morning walk looks like a pastel watercolour painting .. 📷 Mary McArthur Photography · Oak Bay Local Facebook group · see the post →

‌ Sharing this as an FYI for OB families with student athletes as I sure wish this was offered when my athlete… 📷 Joanne Macdonald · Oak Bay Local Facebook group · see the post →

Oak Bay Adopts Updated Official

Oak Bay just made room for townhouses, and one spot could become a whole new neighbourhood

Photo · District of Oak Bay News

The 20-year plan opens up the UVic-owned vacant lands at Cedar Hill Corner for mixed-use housing.

The land at Cedar Hill Corner has sat empty for years. Under the Official Community Plan Oak Bay adopted this week, it becomes a mixed-use neighbourhood.

The OCP is the district's rulebook for land use and infrastructure over the next two decades, and this version does something Oak Bay has long resisted: it clears the way for townhouses and multi-unit housing in strategic locations. Council pointed to provincial housing targets as the reason. The province has been pushing municipalities to add density, and this is Oak Bay's answer.

The plan leans on proximity to transit and services, with stronger climate policies for sea-level rise and upgrades to parks. Design guidelines are meant to keep the district's tree canopy and historic character intact while the new housing goes in.

Mayor Kevin Murdoch framed it as a balancing act. The updates "help preserve what residents value, while also guiding necessary change in a way that is financially, socially, and environmentally responsible," he said. The document gets its next review in five years.

Sources · District of Oak Bay News

The Pick · Local partner · Ottavio

Aperol spritzes on the patio

Honestly one of our favourite Oak Bay summer activities right now. You'll find them at Ottavio, right on the Avenue.

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Well, there go the marigolds!

The deer beat the Bobex again on one Oak Bay block

Photo · Oak Bay Local Facebook group

A weekly spraying, and the marigolds are gone anyway.

Someone in the Oak Bay Local Facebook group sprayed their marigolds with Bobex once a week. The deer ate them anyway.

"Well, there go the marigolds!" the post read. The repellent didn't hold.

It's a familiar loss on these streets, where the deer treat front gardens like a salad bar and municipal patience with the herd wears thin.

Sources · Oak Bay Local Facebook group

Upgrades for Oak Bay school

SD61 wanted to cut four red oaks for parking. Willows parents stopped it.

The district said five new stalls meant the trees had to go. After the neighbourhood pushed back, it's redrawing the parking lot instead.

Four red oaks at École Willows Elementary were slated for the chainsaw to make room for five parking stalls. Parents did the math on what that trade actually meant, and they didn't like it.

The Greater Victoria School District had told the Willows community that its child care renovation needed five more on-site stalls, and that removing the four red oaks was the only way to get there. The trees do the work you'd expect trees to do on a schoolyard: shade, cooling, cover for whatever lives in them. That was the objection.

The district now says it's reworking the layout with the District of Oak Bay to keep as much green space and as many trees as it can. It expects to bring the updated design back to families and the surrounding neighbourhood late next week before anyone touches the site.

So the oaks are still standing, for now, while two levels of government sort out where five cars are supposed to go.

“~ I couldn't walk past this gorgeous pink peony poppy without stopping and taking a photo! It was the only one in full bloom. I thought it was a stunner! 🩷💚🌸 ~”

One peony poppy in full bloom, stopping traffic on a morning walk. Oak Bay's version of breaking news.

🌐 From Mary McArthur Photography in Oak Bay Local Facebook group · 44 likes · see the post →

ONE MORE THING

929 Island Road is open for the season again: fresh bouquets grown, picked, and arranged on the block. Every bunch is whatever is blooming that week.

Enjoy the village this week.

The Oak Bay Local team