Growth
The Issue
Parcel-by-parcel decisions can permanently close off larger community opportunities. A needed pathway, public space, utility connection, shared facility or strategic land purchase may become impossible once surrounding properties are developed.
My Position
Council should examine what Esquimalt may need decades from now before deciding only what works today. Foresight is not prediction. It is protecting useful options while there is still time to act.
What Council Can Do
Use the Official Community Plan, development-capacity modelling, capital planning, land acquisition, rights-of-way, easements and partnerships within municipal authority to identify and protect strategic opportunities.
What I Would Advocate For
Map future connections and public needs, identify land whose strategic value exceeds its current use, test whether facilities and infrastructure can serve more than one purpose, and evaluate opportunities before they become unaffordable.
Costs and Consequences
Preserving options can require early spending or limit short-term choices. Waiting can cost far more or make an opportunity impossible. Each proposal should show both the cost of acting and the cost of losing the option.
Questions That Still Need Answers
Which connections and sites are strategically important? What decisions are irreversible? Which opportunities require action now, and which can safely wait?
Sources and Further Reading
CONNECTED DECISIONS
Connected Decisions
No major community decision happens in isolation.
Housing
How new homes fit the community and what they require.
Community Plan
Where housing fits, how neighbourhoods connect and what natural and public spaces are protected.
Growth
What infrastructure and public services development requires, and who pays for them.
Spending
What a decision costs today, how it is funded and what obligations follow.
Ask Holly About This
Have a question or perspective to share? Please get in touch.