COMMUNITY EVENTS | 🌳 Tree planting in Oak Bay. Oak Bay Parks will be providing trees and shrubs and are hoping volunteers will join them on Nov. 16 from 10am to noon to plant them along Beach Drive. The site is approximately 500 metres south of the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, on the other side of the street. | 🎨 The 25th Annual Oak Bay Artists' Fall Studio Tour will take place at the Monterey Recreation Centre and private artists' home studios on Saturday, Nov. 16 and Sunday, Nov. 17 between 10am and 4pm. More details and a map of the tour are available here. | 🌺 Remembrance Day Ceremony. On Monday, Nov. 11 at 10:55am, the local Remembrance Day ceremony will take place at the Oak Bay Cenotaph, 2900 block of Beach Drive. The ceremony is open to the public. A livestream of the ceremony will also be available for those who can’t attend in person. |
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| | COMMUNITY NEWS | 🐟 First fish found in Bowker Creek in 70 years. The long-term recovery project by Friends of Bowker Creek has had ups and downs over the years, but the discovery of fish in the creek this week is viewed by many as a sign of hope. [Oak Bay News] | 👮 Teen goes public after suspicions she’d been drugged at an Oak Bay house party. Police are investigating after 16-year-old Georgia ended up unconscious and in the hospital where clinicians suspected GHB, otherwise known as the “date rape drug”. [Times Colonist] | 🏢 Citified highlights Oak Bay development proposals. Oak Bay is currently challenged to meet its provincial housing targets, however development proposals are starting to appear, including a rendering of an 18-unit rental development near Oak Bay High. [Citified] | 🏚 Historic Oak Bay homes set to be demolished near Beach Drive. The two properties had been owned by members of the Ross family of Butchart Gardens. The homes are being demolished after a new owner bought the two properties last year for $20 million. [Times Colonist] | 🚧 District of Oak Bay encourages residents to ‘adopt a catch basin’. To prevent flooding, the district is asking ‘adopters’ to be responsible for a local catch basin, and to clear leaves and debris throughout the fall and winter. [District of Oak Bay] | 🌧 Rainy, wet weather expected in Oak Bay this weekend. Coastal BC is expected to be the wettest part of the country this weekend, as the Weather Network tracks more than three low-pressure systems as the jet stream aligns with coastal sections of the province. [The Weather Network] | 🏘 The District of Oak Bay will hold a public hearing for 1318 Transit Road Heritage Revitalization on Monday, Nov. 12, at 7pm. The heritage revitalization agreement would secure protection of and improvements to the home on that property as well as to facilitate the subdivision of three residential lots from the property. [District of Oak Bay] | ☕ Ottavio is getting ready for the holidays! Panettone will be available Thursday, November 14th until Christmas in miniature and large sizes, while supplies last.* | *Sponsored Listing | | P.S. Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here. |
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| | PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT | To join the conversation, become a member of the Oak Bay Local Facebook Group | | An unusual colour-changing object in the sky | Community members have been speculating and discussing a large, circular colour-changing object in the sky, spotted through an Oak Bay community member’s smartphone. They also took a video, which shows it moving and changing like a malleable bubble, over the Oak Bay Marina. | While someone suggested the possibility of it being a UFO, another more plausible solution is that it could be Sirius, a spectacular star that is often seen during autumn/winter, which "changes colour" because of earth's atmosphere which causes light to slightly bend due to wind/air currents, distorting the light. It’s also quite close to our own atmosphere. | | |
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| | | Old stone home gets demolished | Locals have been discussing the demolition of two historic Beach Drive homes, and noticed that there was a lack of interest from the community about preserving the heritage properties. Many said they were surprised that not just one, but two historic homes were being demolished in the same location, after having been sold last year for $20 million. | Some suggested that the old home could have been turned into a museum, while others argued that its prime location necessitated other options for this space in the community. Others were wondering what will soon take its place, and whether the location will accommodate more people, or affordable housing units, which were called for as part of provincial housing targets. There has been no official confirmation as to what the future holds for these properties, however locals had lots to say about what their visions are as far as waterfront real estate is concerned. | | |
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| IN OTHER NEWS | | Oak Bay resident Aylar is planning to open a Persian restaurant in Oak Bay, and turned to Oak Bay locals for ideas on how to decorate it. She asked community members whether they had any furniture or décor items they would like to part with, to live on in this new space. Locals offered up several interesting items for what’s sure to be an amazing new addition to the Oak Bay community. | |
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| | | | | | PHOTO OF THE WEEK |  | Image credit: Mary McArthur |
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