3rd Annual Oak Bay Community Harvest Potluck
Saturday, October 1st, 2011
5:00 – 7:00PM Potluck Dinner
7:00 – 7:30 Family Entertainment by Oak Bay’s Stuart Nemtin as the famous Major Conrad Flapps
Oak Bay United Church, Lower Hall
1355 Mitchell Street, Oak Bay
Bring friends, neighbors and family and a favourite food dish with serving utensils, your own plate(s), cutlery and cup(s).
Join in the Harvest Bounty Exchange Table! Bring seeds, plants, recipes to share and exchange.
Show off the best of your garden and have it judged by the Community Association Executive!
Hosted by the Community Association of Oak Bay
Saturday’s Active Transportation Forum: Walking, Cycling, Transit and Public Spaces was a great success! There were nearly 50 participants, and it was a very engaging, energizing session!
The agenda covered many aspects of active transportation in Oak Bay. We learned about the CRD Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan, Complete Streets and Other Inspirational Ideas, the Oak Bay Master Cycling Plan, Safer Routes for Willows and Monterey Schools, Imaginative Ideas from Other Cities, Imaginative Ideas for Oak Bay, and the New Oak Bay High School as a Community Space.
The audience came with lots of input and ideas to share. These are some of the creative ideas shared after the morning presentations:
Support for recreational cycling (accessibility to Willows and Uplands Parks)
Simple solutions to pedestrian safety and accessibility, such as curb bulges, which narrow the pedestrian crossing, narrows the road which forces cars to slow down.
Traffic calming (i.e. parked cars)
Oak Bay regional access and connection to Lochside Trail by way of the Bowker Creek Greenway
‘No car’ day and associated activities (an idea from Brazil), which could work on Oak Bay Avenue
Runnymeade/Mt. Joy/Central Ave needs improved walking access throughout the area
Oak Bay needs to design pedestrian bulges appropriately
Enforce parking on property
Timed crossing signals
Interrupt vehicle corridors by use of diversions and cut-throughs to facilitate increased cycle traffic
Partner with businesses to supply more bike racks
We spent the afternoon hearing about the Oak Bay High School rebuild project, and the opportunities this will bring to improve pedestrian, cycling, and public spaces in and around the school.
Some ideas that came from the New Oak Bay High School group discussion session are:
Oak Bay High as a Community Hub where the paths and walkways are improved to encourage walking and cycling to and from the school, Recreation Centre, and the Village
Educational Corridor: A cycling/pedestrian only street or trail that connects UVic to Willows School, to Oak Bay High, to Monterey Middle School!
Planning for, and accommodating all modes of travel, including skateboards, and the addition of smaller transit lines, during the construction of the high school, and well into the future
Bowker Creek Greenway should include a pathway that allows cyclists to follow the whole way (no stairs)
Add Community Gardens along Bowker Creek at the high school for students to access or maintain as a learning resource
Widen all sidewalks around schools, and bury power lines, as many power poles are currently in the middle of the sidewalk
As you can see, we had some really inspirational discussion that requires some work to get us moving in Oak Bay! Keep watching here to see how you can contribute, or get involved in the Action Plan. If you have ideas to share, please feel free to comment, or start a discussion on our Forum.
We had some good media coverage by the Times Colonist, as you can see here.
Community Planning, Membership, Special Events
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active transportation, Bowker Creek, Community Planning, Connector, CRD, cycling, Cycling Master Plan, events, forum, garden, New Oak Bay High School, Oak Bay Councillor, pedestrian, public spaces, safe, Safer Routes to Schools, walking
The Environment Committee has begun their first initiative, a weekly plant swap that will take place at the Thursday Estevan Farmers Market. The Plant Swap will encourage neighbourhood connections and help gardeners who work so hard to make Oak Bay the lovely place that it is. 
How does it work, you ask? You simply bring your “extras”/ plant divides / seedlings and take away something new! It will be a great opportunity to meet other gardeners in your community, and add some variety to your garden at the same time!
Just pot up and label your plants and bring them to Estevan Food Roots Market any Thursday 3:30 – 4:30 starting June 25th.
There will also be a Garagelennium Plant Swap this Saturday, 9:00 – 11:00AM at 2252 Cranmore Road.
The Community Association of Oak Bay thanks you for stopping by and we hope to see you at the Estevan Food Roots Market which is held every Thursday 3 – 6 pm at the corner of Estevan and Musgrave in Estevan Village.
COME SWAP A PLANT, BUY LOCAL PRODUCE RIGHT FROM THE GROWER AND MEET YOUR NEIGHBOURS!
We need help with the Plant Swap Project. Please call Jane at 250.598.4415.
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