Climate Change: British Columbia’s Green Communities Amendment Act is a driver for doing business differently
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| A well-planned front-end process is the secret to a successful project outcome, says the City of Courtenay’s Derek Richmond |
In December 2010, Comox Valley local governments initiated a dialogue with development community about aligning efforts at a watershed scale
In 2008, the four local governments in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island agreed to embark on a journey as a regional team. As a result, the Comox Valley is the provincial demonstration region for showcasing the benefits of a ‘regional team approach’ to establish expectations and achieve consistency at the front counter.
“In December 2010, the CAVI-Comox Valley Regional Team hosted a ‘Developers Dialogue’. This initiated a conversation with the Comox Valley development community about local government policies and strategies to achieve ‘design with nature’ outcomes. The requirements of the Green Communities Act provided the backdrop for the dialogue,” reports Derek Richmond, Manager of Engineering with the City of Courtenay.
“The event was conducted as a townhall sharing session. We invited the development community to talk about how local government can make the development application process more transparent and faster. We also invited participants to share their ideas on green infrastructure innovations.”
Greenhouse Gas Reduction
“In B.C. the provincial government has enacted legislation that requires all local governments to create policies and strategies to reduce greenhouse gas remissions in their Official Community Plans,” stated Nancy Hofer, Environmental 
Planner with the City of Courtenay
“Reducing greenhouse gases is a powerful motivator as the actions taken to achieve this goal will lessen development impact on the local environment, lessen collective impact on the global atmospheric commons and lessen a community’s dependence on finite fossil fuels.”
“This will become increasingly important over the long term. Local governments, whether they are ready for this reality or not, are now being mandated to address it in their regulation of development.”
To Learn More:
To read the complete story about what transpired at this event, visit the ‘homepage’ for the Comox Valley Developers Dialogue.
