Speaking out Murdered teen’s parents ask for change. Page A5
NEWS: Liquor vendors need more say /A3 ARTS: IMAX fest takes viewers around the world /A9 SPORTS: Vikes start indoor track season /A11
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Notorious modern Oak Lanes home sparked formation of Oak Bay watchdog group
T
he afternoon sunlight spills through an arbor and across the manicured lawn of a Monterey Avenue home. On the steps of her 100-year-old craftsman-style house, Caroline Mitchell looks past her garden and across the street to Oak Lanes. The $1.95-million West Coast modern home sparked the formation of a citizens’ watchdog group committed to tighter building size restrictions. And though the view isn’t too bad from where she’s standing, Mitchell says, the building remains the wrong house for the location from an esthetic standpoint – development she wants to see halted across the municipality. “I moved here from Vancouver where it’s just a hodgepodge of older homes torn down and homes that take up the whole lot replacing them and the whole feel of the Natalie North neighbourhood was completely lost because of that,� says Mitchell, the Reporting first to speak out publicly against Oak Lanes. “I moved here because I sensed that Oak Bay was somewhere very different, where people valued it and it would stay like that. But now I get the sense that people are moving here for other reasons and aren’t bothered by what’s happening.� On the other side of the avenue, past the sign warning of video surveillance at 1058 Monterey Ave., Method Built developer Rajinder Sahota tours the home. He earnestly points to details in the Russ Trelour design – a great room that opens to an outdoor living space, an abundance of windows – and recounts with ease the resistance he’s experienced to the project. The Method Built sign at the entrance was twice vandalized, he says with a smile. But one vandal used such diligence and care that he can’t help but laugh about it. PLEASE SEE: Modern home still stirs controversy, Page A3
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Natalie North/News staff
Caroline Mitchell takes in the view of the newly completed West Coast modern-style Oak Lanes house from her Monterey Avenue home across the street.
United Way nears $6 million goal After raising an astonishing $5.5 million, the United Way of Greater Victoria is hoping the public can rally one last time to help reach the charity’s fundraising goal. The annual campaign still needs another $445,000 for various non-
profit organizations that support vulnerable people in the Capital Region. Shelters, mental health workers and people with disabilities all depend on the funding each year. “The organizations that we fund depend on us to keep their programs
and services moving forward to address the root causes of social issues in our region,� said Linda Hughes, CEO of United Way. To donate before the extended Jan. 31 deadline, visit uwgv.ca or call 250385-6708.
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