Local government directly affects you
For most people, the federal government represents the big picture. How our country compares in the world. The provincial government gets closer to home. It manages ferries, health care issues and more. But local governments most directly impact an individual’s life. Local governments control land use through zoning, property taxes and manage everything from area roads to schools. On this page, you’ll find stories about what local governments are doing and how well they are performing.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE REVIEW
Read all the stories here
LINKS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Blowing smoke: Campaign to overturn wood stove bylaws called misleading, ineffective
The woodstove industry has launched a campaign to overturn restrictive bylaws in the Comox Valley, but local government leaders say they are unmoved and a new study suggests woodstove testing is fatally flawed.
CV Regional District adopts a statement of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples
The Comox Valley Regional District has formally recognized its commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in a statement adopted by the board last week
Local governments start their 2021 budgets; who is the CVs highest-paid official?
Decafnation volunteers have compiled key financial information from Comox Valley local government reporting. Are tax increases, policing costs and accumulated surpluses in line with other communities?
Another environmental dilemma: Do biosolids pose a public health risk?
Comox Valley electoral area directors told land applications of biosolids pose a danger to humans and a legal risk for the regional district, but the CVRD has invested heavily to produce a more highly treated Class A composting product
Stotan Falls petition called “trojan horse,” 3L serves notice of logging Jan. 21
Anonymous petition launched to convince Courtenay Council to annex 3L Developments property to save Stotan Falls; critics call the petition a “trojan horse” and urge people not to sign. Meanwhile, 3L notices homeowners it will start logging in two weeks
B.C.’s 150th anniversary provides an opportunity to right a historic wrong
Nanaimo-Ladysmith MP Paul Manly writes that British Columbia could advance reconciliation with First Nations on southern Vancouver Island next year and at the same time protect watersheds, endangered species and create sustainable economic opportunities.
Comox Valley receives $9.251 million to offset COVID-19 pandemic economic impact
Four Comox Valley local governments received a total of $9.251 million as part of the $425 million BC Restart Grant Program
CVRD starts the process to create a regional parks service, it could take until 2022
With logging threatening several large natural assets, the Comox Valley Regional District voted this week to begin a process to re-activate a regional parks service. It could 12 months or more.
CV governments apply for infrastructure funds to ease pandemic economic recovery
All four Comox Valley governments apply for one-time, 100% provincial funds for ready-to-go infrastructure projects that can create immediate jobs and help communities recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic.
3L Developments prefers to sell Riverwood land but vows to log it and extract gravel
3L Developments signalled to the Comox Valley Regional District today that it would like to sell its nearly 500 acres of property in the Puntledge Triangle and warned that there was only a small window of opportunity before it proceeds to log the timber and extract gravel from the site
Regional District again rejects 3L Developments, amending regional growth strategy
The Comox Valley Regional District has again rejected a request from 3L Developments Inc. to amend the community’s Regional Growth Strategy.
CVRD initiates discussions about Economic Development Society reforms
Conflicting views about sustainable economic growth have caused Comox Valley Regional District directors to initiate discussions that might reform or replace an organization that it created in 1988
Tensions rise as Liaison Committee explores integration for CVRD, CVEDS
The Comox Valley Regional District may have signed a two-year agreement with the Economic Development Society but the work of reforming that 32-year-old entity carries on through a select committee and board-wide workshops
A shifting political climate means change for 32-year-old society, but board still divided
A changing political climate that brought new faces and fresh perspectives to the Comox Valley Regional District boardroom has thrust the three-decade-old Comox Valley Economic Development Society into an uncertain future.
No CV economic recovery plan yet, lack of destination marketing raises concerns
Nearly seven months after the BC lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Comox Valley Economic Task Force has yet to form any plans to help local businesses and the region’s destination marketing office has been “repurposed”
3L Developments is back, and again asking to amend the Regional Growth Strategy
3L Developments Ltd. has returned to the Comox Valley Regional District to ask the Electoral Services Committee to push an RGS amendment on its behalf to the full board. That would clear the way for a new version of Riverwood
CVRD commission takes “historic” step toward Comox Valley-wide wastewater system
The Courtenay-Comox Sewage Commission has taken the first step toward a Comox Valley-wide sewerage system by agreeing to receive and treat wastewater from the fast-growing Royston and Union Bay portions of Electoral Area A.
New Courtenay-Comox sewage master plan process to restart after virus lockdown delays
Delayed by this spring’s COVID-19 virus lockdown, public consultation on the region’s new Liquid Waste Management Plan will begin later this summer