Courtenay council adopted a bylaw Monday to restrict water bottling in all zones, except where the source is the municipal water supply. Water bottling is considered a manufacturing use, permitted in a handful of zones. There is one company operating a bottling plant in Courtenay. It’s located on Rosewell Crescent and uses a multi-staged process to purify the municipal water supply.
•The Morrison Creek Streamkeepers invites council and the public to ‘think like a watershed’ — an area of land that collects water and funnels it to a downstream waterway. The Morrison Creek Watershed is an 890-hectare sub-basin of the Puntledge Watershed, containing various salmon species, mussels, crayfish and the endangered Morrison Creek Lamprey. The group harbours concerns about setbacks being less than a recommended 30-metre distance. At its Aug.19 meeting, council will consider Doug Hillian’s notice of motion for the City to establish a consistent 30-metre setback, as in the Arden Local Area Plan.
•An Urban Forest Strategy has found that the canopy cover — the extent of a community’s urban forest as viewed from above — is 33 per cent of Courtenay’s total land area. The percentage drops to 25 when rural lands just within city boundaries are excluded. Just five per cent of the cover is on public land. The strategy’s 2050 vision statement sets a canopy cover target of 34-40 per cent. Most respondents in two different surveys were willing to support a tax increase to support more urban forest initiatives. The most commonly selected tax increase was $25 per household per year in the first survey, and $100 in the second survey. Council adopted the strategy, which can be viewed at www.courtenay.ca/urbanforest
•Council directed staff to work with the Transportation Ministry to further analyze the most appropriate traffic control treatment and cost-sharing agreement for the intersection at Ryan Road and Cowichan Avenue, next to NIC. Ministry officials say a multi-use path containing another travel lane would cost about $6.6 million. An overpass would start at $3- to $4-million.
“It can be a struggle to get people to use them,” Alycia Traas said in response to a question from Manno Theos.
•The City raised $1,276.15 for YANA (You Are Not Alone) from Canada Day fundraising efforts: $564.85 dunk tank, and $711.30 variety show. YANA is a community organization offering help to Comox Valley families that need to travel to access medical services for their children.