The plan will include 20 years of housing needs for the downtown. However when exactly projects and development will happen is not known.

This is because of how both the private and public sector play a part in the development of our communities.

In BC, development is regulated by local governments in accordance with land use and development legislation established by the provincial government.

A local government has ultimate control over what happens over local government-held public lands, including what and when things are built. The City owns a number of properties within the downtown. One example is Harmston Park. The Harmston Park land currently has its own planning process that includes opportunities for community involvement. Learn more about that process on the Harmston Park Plan project page.

The majority of the land in the downtown is private and is not developed by the City nor does the City have control over the speed or timing of redevelopment. To a certain degree, City’s plans guide what can and cannot built, but it is up to property owners, often in the form of professional land developers and builders, to apply to the City to build in accordance with guiding planning documents such as the DVLAP. As a result, the plan will be implemented through the actions of multiple property owners working on their own time.

A ‘What we Heard Report’ from the Open House and survey results will be presented to Council in July.

Community feedback will be reviewed and more technical analysis conducted on what type of development could be developed where and what housing targets will be established for different housing needs. This will then inform the draft plan including the creation of the zones.

Later in the summer or early fall there will be another public engagement opportunity on a draft plan. Please press the ‘Follow’ button on the DVLAP project page to receive information about when that next phase of engagement is announced.

For approximately 10 years Courtenay’s downtown, which includes the Riverfront, Downtown Core, Fitzgerald Avenue and Harmston Park areas, has been planned to grow into a higher density, residential and commercial centre of town. While they are all part of the Downtown, these sub areas will maintain their own distinct character that relate to their past, there future primary functions and their physical characteristics.

There are already multiple plans that have been adopted and that guide this vision for the greater downtown today. In 2023, provincial legislation came into effect which set requirements for planning for housing needs. Below are some key resources on how these plans and laws work together to inform the current vision for downtown, and how the downtown relates to the wider city:

• The Official Community Plan (OCP) is a community’s overarching policy document that guides a community’s growth. It also contains land use designations for all properties within the City. These land use designations are used to inform what zoning will be supported. Any one land use designation may support a number of zones, and the zones must be in alignment with the land use designation otherwise the OCP must be amended. The OCP is adopted by bylaw.

• Courtenay’s OCP was last updated in 2022 and provided a urban growth framework that identified a number of centres for growth within the City’s boundaries.

• The ‘Downtown Town Centre’ (this is the name of the land use designation) is identified as one of the primary areas for growth. Policy related to development zoning includes:
  • Support for a wide range of land uses ‘…including diversity of multi-residential housing choices, small scale commercial uses, and other supportive uses to promote the establishment of a complete community…’.
  • Support for ‘low-rise buildings’ (up to 4 storeys) in select areas and elsewhere ‘mid- and high-rise buildings’ (5-6 storeys are mid-rise, 6+ storeys are high rise in the City’s OCP bylaw).

• The ‘Downtown Town Centre’ boundaries extend beyond the commercial downtown core from the Courtenay River to McPhee Avenue.

• Downtown Playbook: The policies that were adopted in the 2022 OCP, were informed by the previously developed, Downtown Playbook (plan), adopted in 2016. This 2016 plan was the first time a comprehensive vision was established for the downtown, which included the boundaries of ‘the greater downtown’ which had very large boundaries (larger than the ‘Downtown Town Centre’). More residents living downtown was one of the priority goals.

• Downtown Vitalization Local Area Plan (DVLAP) (this process) is a process to develop an implementation plan for the OCP policies for the downtown. It allows for more detailed ideas, projects and policies to be established in keeping with the OCP policies. Once adopted, the DVLAP will form part of the OCP bylaw.

• Zoning Bylaw: In 2023, the Province enacted legislation to respond to the housing crisis in BC and now requires all local governments to ensure they have sufficiently zoned land for 20 years of housing needs as identified in their Housing Needs Reports. Local governments must do this every 5 years with the first deadline being December 31, 2025. The DVLAP process will inform what zoning changes will occur in the Courtenay Zoning Bylaw which is concurrently being reviewed.

• The Zoning Bylaw currently allows for larger (mid-rise) buildings notably in the commercial core (the Commercial One Zone (C-1)), around Harmston Park (Residential Four B Zone (R-4B)), and the riverfront south of the 5^th street bridge (Commercial Two Zone (C-2)).
• To learn more about the City’s Current Zoning Bylaw visit the Zoning Bylaw page that contains an interactive map, app and the bylaw.

• Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) is a high-level growth plan that applies to Courtenay, Comox, Cumberland and the Comox Valley Regional District Electoral Areas A, B and C. An RGS is commitment made by the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD), the City of Courtenay, the Town of Comox, and the Village of Cumberland to work together to promote communities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable for generations to come. The RGS is implemented within each community through local Official Community Plans, Infrastructure Plans, and regulatory tools such as zoning. The Comox Valley Regional Growth Strategy guides local municipal OCPs to grow within municipal boundaries, including by increasing densities in Town Centres.

The provincial government has a number of resources online that are regularly being updated. A couple of key ones include:

• The Provincial ‘pro-active planning’ legislation context
• Guide to the Local Government Housing Framework

Please consult the provincial webpages regularly to stay up to date on provincial housing and legislation announcements.

In late 2023, the provincial government announced a suite of legislative reforms that together support more integrated and pro-active long-term planning for community needs and expediency in development approvals, with an emphasis on housing.

Based on the Province’s housing needs methodology, the City of Courtenay may need an additional 8,350 housing units to be built by 2041 to meet anticipated demand and mitigate market imbalances.

Read the full Housing Needs Report (2024) here: www.courtenay.ca/housing-report

The 6th Street Bridge will provide cyclists, pedestrians and other people-powered transportation connections from the bottom of 6th Street to Simms Millennium Park, and the extensive trail networks on both sides of the Courtenay River.

For more information, see the project webpage: www.courtenay.ca/6th-street-bridge

The Downtown Courtenay Playbook, informed by extensive community engagement in 2015 and 2016, serves as a roadmap for downtown revitalization. It outlines a shared vision for the area, along with principles, goals, and a toolbox of strategies to achieve them.

Recognizing the collaborative nature of this work, the Playbook positions itself as a living document, open to ongoing review and adaptation as the community works together to bring new life to downtown Courtenay. Building upon this foundation, the Urban Design Framework does not aim to replace the Playbook, but rather to provide a more detailed and technical lens to translate its vision into actionable projects.

Read the Playbook here: www.courtenay.ca/downtown

An OCP guides a wide range of land use and other municipal decisions, ensuring they are influenced by a comprehensive community vision. The update to Courtenay’s OCP and Zoning Bylaw is required to ensure that Courtenay’s land use is aligned with recent housing need and growth assessments.

This update marks the first step in the newly mandated five-year cycle for the OCP, providing another opportunity in 2030 to ensure our plans reflect evolving community priorities and trends.

Read the current OCP here: www.courtenay.ca/ocp