Dear editor,
The following is a letter I sent to Courtenay mayor and council:
I am responding to your request for comment on the City of Courtenay Draft Official Community Plan.
I would first like to mention that it was a challenge to access the document on the city website. And, at 244 pages, it is far too long. I can’t envision very many people studying the entire document. A condensed version should be created and made available.
It is full of tasks that will seriously overburden city staff.
There are some shortcomings, the most serious is that it does not consider the official plans of our neighbouring communities. Do they conflict or do they augment?
There is a section on climate change that outlines a path toward net-zero emissions. There is, however, no section dealing with the impact of climate change. The glaciers are melting, the oceans are rising. Weather is more extreme. We need to start mitigating.
There is a section about economic development, but no plan for growing an industrial base.
And there is nothing in the draft plan about how to co-ordinate with the neighbouring communities – K’omox First Nation, CFB Comox, Comox, Cumberland and the regional district. Everything stops at the boundaries. I think this is a serious shortcoming. We must realize that what benefits any part of the Comox Valley benefits the whole Valley.
Erik Eriksson,
Courtenay