Official Community Plan

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transit service 1 , which partly explains why 85% off all trips within Courtenay are by private vehicle. Many of the residential densities are also insufficient to create the amount of customers needed to support neighbourhood-serving businesses like grocers and local coffee shops, which in turn influences access to services, street life, and overall neighbourhood vitality. At the same time, pockets of existing residential density offer promising local precedents for 10-minute neighbourhoods such as the downtown, near Lake Trail Community School, lower Ryan Road, and near the Air Park. Employment density is also important to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as the concentration of jobs in a particular area can affect transit ridership even more strongly than the concentration of residents. For growth centres and corridors, employment densities should be considered in tandem with residential densities, as they both contribute to transit viability and improve residents’ access to jobs by foot, bicycle, or transit. In Courtenay, there are pockets of high job density at important employment anchors, including the downtown area, lower Ryan Road, North Island College, and North Island Hospital Comox Valley, and retail areas along the Cliffe Avenue corridor. In Courtenay, areas with higher employment densities tend not to directly overlap or integrate with areas of higher population density; however, a number of these areas are near one another – thus providing a foundation for the reality of 10-minute neighbourhoods throughout Courtenay.

suitable mixed uses than in areas with a low degree of mixed uses. Residents living near multiple and diverse retail destinations also generally make more frequent and shorter shopping trips, and more by walking and cycling. A higher degree of land use mix can also translate into a stronger sense of community, allowing residents to interact with their neighbours more often, trust others, form community networks, and be socially engaged. Within Courtenay there are a number of areas that already display the land use mix qualities of 10-minute neighbourhoods , such as the downtown, lower Ryan Road commercial area and upper Ryan Road commercial and institutional area, each surrounded by residences. 2. Increasing densities Density refers to the number of people, homes, or jobs within a certain area. Higher residential density, often in the form of multi-unit housing, can result in: energy savings; lower per capita municipal infrastructure and service costs (e.g., roadways, water and sewer infrastructure, transit, fire stations, recreation centres, etc.); greater housing choices and affordability; more vibrant street life and public realm; a larger proportion of trips by foot, bike, and transit; and, as a result, reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Many areas in Courtenay do not have the residential densities to be considered walkable or supportive of frequent

1 Minimum densities to support frequent transit are approximately 30 residential units per hectare, or 50 jobs per hectare, or a combination of residential units and jobs reflecting these respective land use densities.

City of Courtenay Official Community Plan