Oak Bay has a new mayor as former councillor Ken Murdoch defeated long-time veteran councillor and incumbent mayor Nils Jensen.
Murdoch said Saturday night he believes the victory is a good mandate to begin implementing his platform: bylaws and regulations to speed up building of new housing through such measures as infill density and secondary suites.
He also said it’s time for the municipality to begin planning to replace and rebuild its aging infrastructure.
“We’ve got to get in front of our infrastructure repairs and the finances, start building those costs into our budgets.”
Jensen’s defeat means the end of a political career that extended back to 1996, when he was first elected to council.
In 2011, he was elected mayor and he was re-elected in 2014.
Jensen took his defeat in stride, saying he hopes the new council will not resort to closing “the tweed curtain” and will act in the best interests of the community.
But Jensen was also clearly wounded by some elements of the campaign, which included untrue rumours.
Those included false whispers that Jensen had embezzled $200,000 from the municipality and accepted $5,000 from a developer.
“It was the most ugly and divisive campaign that I’ve ever been involved in,” he said in an interview after the vote. “But in every debate and appearance, I always took the high road.”
Jensen and Murdoch both agreed during the campaign that more housing is needed in the municipality of 18,100.
Murdoch said Oak Bay’s population had not increased in decades, a sign that is not healthy, financially or demographically.
He favoured standing by the official community plan but completing bylaws and regulations to allow new housing to be completed more quickly.
It’s time for council to complete new bylaws, regulations and zoning to indicate where things such as secondary suites, laneway houses and townhouses and apartments can be constructed, Murdoch said.
“We need to line up with a cohesive plan so we are building the housing that we need,” he said.
During the campaign, Murdoch complained that the municipal council too often gets bogged down in single-spot rezoning battles.
He also said the municipality must begin to arrange for housing for seniors with the pending loss of Oak Bay Lodge.
Meanwhile, Barb Desjardins will continue to serve as Esquimalt mayor after easily defeating her challenger, John Roe.
The final result was 2,919 to 1,128.
Desjardins said the first task facing council is deciding how to spend $17 million in amenity funds. The money, the McLoughlin Amenity Fund, is coming from the Capital Regional District as compensation to the municipality for taking a regional sewage treatment plant, now under construction. Public safety, waterfront parks and recreation facilities have been identified as spending areas.
