City of Courtenay Official Community Plan - 2026 update

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ABOUT THE 2026 OCP UPDATE

The 2026 OCP update responds to the community’s housing needs over the next 20 years, as required by the Province of British Columbia. This was achieved through collaboration with City staff, the community, key interest-holders and technical review. Opportunities for community dialogue were hosted through virtual meetings, community pop-ups, information sessions and meetings with interest-holders. A project website was used to communicate with participants and host information pertaining to the update.

Technical Analysis A multi-faceted technical review was conducted to reflect the areas of the OCP that required updating to align with the policy and legislative updates. This included a land use and development capacity analysis, a high-level infrastructure review (i.e., servicing and transportation), an existing community amenities assessment, local area planning best practice research, a targeted housing review, and a development finance tool review in order to understand the local development financial context of Amenity Cost Charges (ACCs), Density Benefit and Inclusionary Zoning policies.

OCP Update Preparation and Adoption The "Big Moves" established through analysis and refined by community feedback and City staff insight informed revisions to the OCP. Presented to Council in February 2026 and adopted later that year.

Spring 2025

Summer - Fall 2025

Winter 2025 - early 2026

Spring - Summer 2025

Background Review In response to the Local Government Act (LGA) requiring all municipalities to update their OCP’s following the passage of Bill 44, a fulsome review of relevant strategic plans and provincial legislation was conducted. This included the City of Courtenay Housing Needs Report (2024), Complete Communities Growth Assessment (2024), and Bill 16, 44, and 46. All available data and base mapping was assessed for completeness, and any potential gaps were noted. To support this review, discussions with the City of Courtenay’s internal Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) were conducted to highlight key changes and areas of the existing OCP for update to accommodate future growth targets.

Sharing Outcomes Outcomes from the OCP review and update were shared with the community and interest-- holders in the "Big Moves" report shared with Council on October 1. This included reporting back to the Technical Advisory Committee, engagement with developers, and focused meetings with Island Health, Ministry of Transportation and Transit, Town of Comox, the CVRD, School District 71 and Department of National Defence. The public open houses on the draft OCP served as a key touchpoint prior to finalizing the updated OCP.

Informing on Change Public and interest-holder engagement kicked off with introductions to the project, explaining what would change and what would not. Through virtual webinars and community pop-ups, information about the project was shared community-wide and provided opportunities to inform interest-holders about the project and collect their feedback. An estimated 500+ interactions helped explain the reason for the update, the technical information driving the update and important legislation changes for the OCP.

City of Courtenay OCP Background Report PART A Foundations