In This Week’s Editor’s Note:
- Comox: seeking Fire Station Construction Managers
- Powell River: Staff preparing draft amendment bylaws to develop 111 hectares.
- Campbell River: four new childcare buildings with 170 spaces
Comox: seeking Fire Station Construction Managers
The Town of Comox is seeking proposals from qualified Construction Managers to provide professional, pre-construction services for the cost-effective replacement of part of its fire station. The project will keep the three existing truck bays and training towers and replace the existing administrative wing with a new three-story 10,000 sq.ft. administrative wing. Design (30%) has been developed by McDonald Hagarty Architects and fire department staff over the last few months. The new administration wing will include offices and meeting space, on the first floor, board rooms and offices on the second floor, and sleeping and common space on the third floor. The building permit application will be made on January 1, 2026 with the building permit review expected to take 2 months. Demolition and Construction is tentatively scheduled to start April 2026 and be completed in 12-14 months. This opportunity was released November 12 and closes November 20.
Powell River: Staff preparing draft amendment bylaws to develop 111 hectares.
The City has completed its initial public engagement for this proposed 111-ha parcel development of land located adjacent to Millennium Park and the City’s Recreation Complex, between the Joyce Avenue and Timberlane Avenue corridors. Couverdon Real Estate has applied to develop these lands, which they are calling Benchlands, with multi-lot residential subdivisions that would permit development in keeping with Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) legislation enacted by the Province in 2023. Permitted housing types would include single-detached, duplex, triplex and fourplex dwellings, carriage houses and secondary suites. The application includes a mix of larger ground-oriented developments and medium-density apartment style multi-unit residential housing. City staff have indicated a desired density target of 35 dwelling units per hectare averaged across the site. Couverdon anticipates the time horizon associated with the complete buildout of these lands to be 30 years. The application will require both an Sustainable Official Community Plan and Zoning amendment to proceed. To facilitate a wider range of housing types, staff are recommended a text amendment to Urban Residential Low Density land use designation to include ‘apartment’ as an acceptable form of housing. This designation already applies to portions of this property. Through negotiation, staff and the application have developed an approach where areas of the site would accommodate increased density closer to Joyce Avenue to offset areas of lower density further north. Staff are currently preparing draft amendment bylaws to the SOCP and Zoning Bylaw as per the direction Council provided on July 3, 2025, and associated planning documents to be presented at council meeting. Public engagement as prescribed by the Local Government Act is still required, including newspaper advertisements and a sign on the property no later than 28 days prior to Council’s consideration of first reading.
Campbell River: four new childcare buildings with 170 spaces
School District 72 has announced the next phase of district built childcare facilities in Campbell River, including: Penfield Elementary School- 525 Hilchey Rd {30 spaces age 5-12); Ecole Willow Point Elementary School – 250 Larwood Rd (30 spaces age 5-12); Ecole Phoenix Middle School – 400 7th Ave {55 spaces age 3-12); and School Board Office – 425 Pinecrest Rd (55 spaces age 3-12). Estimated construction cost for these new facilities is $6.8 million. Project funding from the Ministry of Education has already been secured and we are anticipating construction starting in January 2026 at Penfield and Ecole Willow Point and in spring 2026 for Ecole Phoenix and at our School Board Office site. The District is asking the City to waive the DCCs and permit fees for the projects.
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