In This Week’s Edition:
- Tofino: nearing capacity on allocating water supply to new developments
- Union Bay and Mount Washington: tenders for new Fire Halls will be released soon
- Courtenay: proposed rezoning for 6 storey mixed-use commercial/residential building
Tofino: nearing capacity on allocating water supply to new developments
At the Regular Council meeting in August, Council unanimously carried a resolution to allocate 33.12 m3/day to 825 Campbell Street with a 55 unit rental building and 24 single family lots. Following this allocation, the remaining raw water supply allocated for new development is: Residential: 4.61 m³/day, Commercial-Industrial-Institutional: 9.11 m³/day, and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation: 60 m³/day. District staff are currently working with several applications from developers. Combined, these applications would require approximately 10-30 cubic metres of water per day for residential developments and 20-70 cubic metres for industrial, commercial, and institutional developments. This exceeds the current cubic metres available. Based on current demand, the remaining 4.61 m³/day for residential use may be fully allocated. Once the current allocation is fully committed, the District cannot approve additional development that requires new water connections. This will delay some projects until an alternative water source is available. In 2023, McElhaney Ltd was awarded the contract to develop the Water Master Plan in the amount of $199,683. In early 2024, Council unanimously agreed for District staff to develop a policy to address the raw water supply deficit highlighted in the plan and to proceed with early budget approval for the Remote Water Monitoring and Telemetry Upgrades valued at $120,000 & the Alternative Water Source Feasibility Study $105,250 projects. Tofino’s water is supplied from four creeks on Meares Island in Clayoquot Sound, across Browning Passage to the north and east of the Tofino peninsula. These four creeks route rainwater to the town’s water treatment infrastructure, via two separate seabed pipelines.
Union Bay and Mount Washington: tenders for new Fire Halls will be released soon
Tender documents for construction of the Union Bay Fire Hall and Mount Washington Fire Services Building are expected to be released this week. The Comox Valley Regional District announced in February the purchase of the Vancouver Island Mountain Centre with construction plans to build fire response truck bays. Staff have been seeking alternative sites since geotechnical investigation identified problems with a previous proposed site in 2022. The Mountain Centre will be used as an administrative and indoor training building, with the fire truck bays to be built beside it. The bays will be used to store response vehicles, supplies and equipment. More information on this project and updates to construction can be found at www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/mwfire. The Union Bay Fire Hall has also been under development for several years. The existing fire hall no longer meets the needs of the department as it has limited parking access for staff, newer fire trucks don’t fit the bays and is generally too small. This new building will be built on a 1.0 hectare (2.48 acre) parcel facing South Island Highway and close to Beaufort Road.
Courtenay: proposed rezoning for 6 storey mixed-use commercial/residential building
A zoning amendment bylaw for a proposed 6 storey mixed-use commercial/residential development on the corner of Mansfield Drive and Cliffe Ave, near the Courtenay Airpark, is scheduled to go before Council September 17, 2025. Council received the application in the summer of 2023. The applicant has applied to redevelop the existing two storey commercial complex into 137 residential units and 11 ground floor commercial units. The subject property is currently zoned Commercial Two (C-2), and the applicant is proposing to rezone the lot to a new comprehensive development zone. The 1.46 acre property with commercial building was purchased in 2021 for $2.35 million. This project is not subject to a public hearing as it is consistent with the Official Community Plan and that it is at least half residential by area. Written comments may be submitted in advance.
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