Regional Growth Strategy

Regional Growth Strategy

The Regional Growth Strategy is a shared vision for managing growth and community impacts in our diverse urban and rural neighbourhoods. It is a commitment made by the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD), the City of Courtenay, the Town of Comox, and the Village of Cumberland to work together to promote communities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable for generations to come. The RGS is implemented within each community through local Official Community Plans, Infrastructure Plans, and regulatory tools such as zoning.

Managing growth is more than creating urban boundaries, preventing urban sprawl and deciding where different land uses will be located. Managing growth is about putting growth in the right places in order to manage impacts on existing communities, protect agricultural and rural lands, and nurture ecosystems and habitat. By putting growth in the right places we can provide connected and efficient services and infrastructure.  

The RGS represents eight goal areas:

• Complete Communities
• Food Systems
• Multi-Modal Transportation
• Health & Wellness
• Environmental Stewardship
• Climate Change
• Local Economy
• Growth Management

View the Comox Valley Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) Get to know your Regional Growth Strategy

Performance Monitoring Dashboard 

The RGS Performance Monitoring Dashboard (PMD) focuses on the eight RGS goals of housing, local economic development, transportation, infrastructure, food systems, public health and safety, climate change, and ecosystems, natural areas and parks. Each of these goals have objectives associated with them, and the PMD monitors our progress towards achieving each objective. Some of the objectives are driven by local government action, but Comox Valley residents have the ability to impact many of them as well. We invite you to take a look at the dashboards and learn more about the goals and policies behind many land use decisions, as well as what steps you can take to help us achieve some of our goals.

Performance Monitoring Dashboard

Regional Context Statements

As the RGS sets the long-term vision for how communities in the Comox Valley will grow, the CVRD’s and each municipality’s Official Community Plan (OCP) and zoning bylaws still guide everyday land use decisions. A Regional Context Statement (RCS) is the section of a municipality’s OCP that shows how its local plans align with the regional vision in the RGS. If any parts of the OCP differ from the RGS, the RCS explains how the municipality will bring them into alignment over time. Provincial legislation requires every municipality to include an RCS in its OCP.

When a municipality prepares or updates an RCS, it must be submitted to the CVRD Board for acceptance. Further, the Board reviews each RCS at least every five years. Even if no changes are proposed, municipalities must resubmit their RCS so the Board can confirm it is still current.

RCSs help ensure that local planning and regional goals move in the same direction. Their effectiveness depends on continued cooperation between the CVRD and member municipalities.

Select a member municipality below to view its RCS:

* Note: Due to a provincial deadline of December 31, 2025, all municipalities must update their OCPs to include their Housing Needs Reports and to allow small-scale multi-unit housing, as required by Bill 44 - Housing Statutes (Residential Development) Amendment Act, 2023. As a result, municipalities are updating their RCSs, which are then submitted to the CVRD Board for review and acceptance.