Municipal Collaboration – Making it Happen in the Comox Valley

Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation on Vancouver Island

The projected growth of Vancouver Island and resulting cumulative impacts are drivers for reassessing where and how land is developed, and water is used. To promote a new way-of-thinking related to infrastructure policies and practices, Convening for Action on Vancouver Island (CAVI) organized Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation on Vancouver Island: The 2007 Series.

Municipal collaboration  was one of four case studies featured as part of Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation in the Comox Valley in October 2007. The event was co-hosted by the Comox Strathcona Reglonal District and the City of Courtenay. The theme for the event was ‘Connecting to Sustainability’.

Making it Happen

Comox Strathcona  Regional District, the City of Courtenay and Town of Comox are making progress on the ground because they communicate and collaborate. Graeme Faris of the Regional District and  Kevin Lagan of the City of Courtenay provided examples to illustrate how efforts are being integrated and resources are being pooled.

According to Kevin Lagan, “We are collaborating to make things happen at the operational level. As Graeme Faris and I see it, local government collaboration is one of the keys to Connecting to Sustainability.”

“The three C’s is a cornerstone of making it happen: these are communication, cooperation and cost-sharing,” adds Kevin Lagan, “Whether it is between governments, developers or NGO’s we can all achieve more and be winners if we work together.   There are four local governments in the Comox Valley; to work alone is easy, and to work together takes real commitment and the common goal of sustainability.”