The Town of Comox is setting sail on a journey to update its current Official Community Plan, and we want you to come aboard and be a part of it!
An Official Community Plan (OCP) is an “anchor” document that outlines a municipality's long-term vision for the community and directs future development. The 2025 OCP update aims to better align with the community's vision for Comox over the next 20 years, with a focus on addressing housing needs.
Why does the Town need to update the OCP?
The Town of Comox’s OCP is now 13 years old, making an update is essential to ensure that its vision, goals, and policies align with the needs of future growth and community aspirations. The OCP update will offer guidance on important policy areas, including transportation, the environment, climate change, parks and trails, infrastructure, economic development, culture, recreation, as well as truth and reconciliation.
The update will also ensure that the Town of Comox meets new provincial requirements. Recently, the Province of British Columbia introduced legislation that requires local governments to update their OCPs by December 2025. Municipalities must now review and update their OCPs every five years, involving public engagement, to plan for sufficient housing to meet current and anticipated needs over the next 20 years. This includes developing policies for a broader range of housing types, such as affordable housing, rental units, and family housing. B.C. is moving toward a more proactive, long-term planning approach, where local governments identify their housing needs and zone accordingly.
Complete Communities Land Use Scenarios
The OCP update will take an evidence-based approach, grounded in the findings of the Complete Communities Assessment. The goal of the OCP update is to build on the assessment's findings and make Comox a more "complete community."
The Complete Communities Assessment included the creation of two land use scenarios. The land use scenarios are preliminary concepts intended to start conversations and spark ideas - they will evolve throughout the OCP update. The land use scenarios below are subject to change. Complete the community survey today to share your thoughts on the scenarios.
Land Use Scenario A & B
Use the slider below to toggle between land use scenario A and scenario B to view the differences.
Are you curious to learn more about these scenarios?
Community Engagement Opportunities
We want you at the helm! Throughout the project there will be a number of opportunities to get involved and share your feedback.
A key part of the update is engagement with the community. We want to know what you think!
Input received during various community engagement events will shape Town-wide plans and policies. Engagement with the community will be done throughout the project but with the majority of events taking place in the Visioning and Refining stages.
To learn about upcoming opportunities, check back here or visit the Town’s social media pages. If you want to be the first to know about updates you can follow this page by selecting the “follow” button in the right hand corner of the page.
An Official Community Plan is a document that provides direction on the key parts that make up a community, including land use, transportation, housing, environment, infrastructure, parks, agriculture, economic development, arts and culture, and more. Communities in British Columbia are granted the authority to adopt OCPs under the Local Government Act which specifies elements that an OCP must include, such as a land use map and 20-year housing needs projections. The OCP sets the framework for other policies in a community by discussing priorities and supporting policy directions. The Comox OCP will guide the implementation of the Town's vision for the next 20 years to 2045.
The OCP vision, goals, land use policies are implemented by the zoning bylaw. Zoning bylaws regulate the use of land, buildings and structures and establish boundaries of various zones. These zones outline permitted uses and define a set of rules that land, buildings and structures must follow, such as parcel size, building dimensions, location and height. A zoning map integrates land use categories defined in an OCP land use map such as residential, commercial, and industrial, amongst others.
In early 2024, the Town received funding from the Province through the Complete Communities program to conduct an assessment to inform future land use planning decisions. The OCP update will incorporate the findings from the Complete Communities Assessment to support evidence-based decision-making.
The concept of "complete communities" is broad and can be defined in various ways. In general, complete communities include:
- A range of housing types to meet the needs of residents at all life stages
- Easily accessible services and amenities
- Multi-modal transportation options to connect people with employment and daily necessities
- Efficient infrastructure that supports future growth in the right areas
The Complete Communities Assessment involved a geospatial analysis across four key areas: housing, transportation, infrastructure, and daily needs. The findings from this analysis were used to create land use scenarios aimed at enhancing Comox's status as a more complete community.
Complete communities offer numerous interconnected benefits, including more diverse housing and transportation options, improved walkability, age-friendly environments, and greater efficiency in infrastructure and service delivery. These benefits help advance various community goals.
