W hen a local government election comes around, candidates roll out the usual suspects, the issues they think will get them elected, or re-elected. So the political chatter tends toward property taxes, housing shortages, public safety and, with increasing urgency, climate preparedness.

Those are all important election topics. But after speaking with a sampling of incumbents and challengers in the Town of Comox, the key topics in this year’s campaign should focus on managing growth and shaping community identity.

As in, What is Comox? A quaint little village on the water, or the next White Rock? Does Comox even have a shared community identity? How will population growth and mandating housing targets affect that identity?

The town, like other municipalities, must meet provincially mandated housing starts and the target of 801 new housing units that came with a Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation grant. And, it must work within the Regional Growth Strategy to increase density rather than create sprawl.

These questions are rising as election issues now, in part, because last year Comox updated its Official Community Plan, which initially  increased the allowable height of buildings in the downtown core and in some residential areas to six storeys.

Having six-storey buildings popping up everywhere got some people excited during the OCP process, and not often in a good way.

In theory, the OCP represents a common vision, one in which all residents feel they have an equal voice in shaping. But not everyone in Comox does.

The OCP’s pumped up building heights and developers’ proposals for even taller structures have become hot topics among councillors and in some neighborhoods. That’s particularly true in the Pritchard Road area, along Buena Vista Avenue and the Beaufort Avenue area.

But on Election Day Oct. 17, voters get to have the biggest voice of all: Choosing who they want on the Town Council to make the decisions to manage that growth and form or maintain the town’s identity?

Let’s take a closer look.

SETTING THE OCP TIMELINE

Comox started the process to update its Official Community Plan in 2024, with a public survey on community vision, land-use scenarios and growth priorities. That was followed a few months later in 2025 by an open house.

A town summary of the survey results showed that the majority of respondents wanted a small-town Comox feel.

After that, the town held three separate invitation-only focus group meetings. One of them for property developers, one for businesses and one for representatives from the school district, other organizations and provincially-connected individuals.

“The town focuses on information sharing. Residents want engagement. People want a voice before it’s too late to make a difference.”

The town then held an open house on the OCP on June 24, 2025. The town’s presentation, however, did not mention that a developer had applied for a 10-storey building at the Mariner Apartments site or that another developer had applied for a 12-storey building near the marinas.

After the open house and before the town held its first public hearing, the maximum height limits in the draft OCP were changed from four to six storeys.

The first public hearing was held on Nov. 26, 2025 at the d’Esterre Seniors Centre. More than 300 people showed up (exceeding the fire limit 115 capacity). People sat on floors, while public speakers focused on height limits, setbacks and downtown density.

Council then held the second Public Hearing on Feb. 4, 2026. Citizens provided feedback on a final draft of the plan.

That culminated what the town says was more than 50 hours of public engagement sessions over an 18-month period.

Four days later, the Town Council adopted the plan, but not unanimously. The voting split 4-3 on the same ongoing ideological lines as most votes have split the Town Council over the last four years.

Councillors Ken Grant, Maureen Swift, Steve Blacklock and Chris Haslett voted to approve the plan. Mayor Nicole Minions, Jonathan Kerr and  Jenn Meilleur voted against it.

OCP CONCERNS

One of the crucial dividing issues among councillors concerned raising maximum building heights from four storeys to six, and where these taller buildings should be allowed. And how they can be designed to better fit into existing neighborhoods. The final OCP plan also includes pre-zoning, which allows developers to build to the zone rules right away, without going through a rezoning process.

Early drafts of the OCP showed a 10-storey building on the Mariner apartments site, at the top of Comox Hill and later a 12-storey building showed up on the OCP’s maps as a future project in the marina area.

Citizens showed up at council meetings to oppose both projects and Town Council voted them down. But allowable maximum building heights were still going up to six storeys.

Do six-story buildings lining the south side of Comox Avenue fit with that vision? Do three-storey multi-family units fit with Buena Vista and Beaufort?

Early versions of the OCP planned for six-storey buildings on both sides of Comox Avenue from Ellis Street to the Filberg Lodge. It also planned six-storey buildings on both sides of Beaufort and Buena Vista avenues.

But council made changes after citizens vocally opposed those plans at the public hearing.

The Town Council changed the building heights to six storeys on the north side of Comox Avenue from Comox Hill to Pritchard. Six storeys are also allowed on the south (water facing) side, except from Rodello to Ellis streets. Buena Vista and Beaufort went down to three and three.

The maximum building height was left at six storeys for the “cabins” property on the north side of Comox Avenue near the Anderston Road intersection. The developer and town staff had apparently progressed too far into the permitting process to shift direction.

Those building heights lasted through the second public hearing and are now enshrined in the OCP. But it does not include options for building designs, such as step backs on the upper floors.

DEVELOPERS TRY AGAIN

In between the two public hearings on the updated OCP, Cameron Contracting applied to build a five storey 100-unit apartment building on a property at 1533 Cedar Avenue that backs onto Brooklyn Creek.

But the quickly formed Pritchard Neighborhood Association and the Brooklyn Creek Watershed Society joined forces to successfully oppose the project. They had help from the OCP itself, which had not designated the west side of Pritchard Road as one of the town’s six growth areas.

That might have been the end of the issue.

However, two weeks after adopting the OCP, the Town Council agreed on the usual 4-3 vote to consider two amendments to the brand new document.

In the first, Cameron Contracting re-applied to build the five-storey apartment building at 1533 Cedar. But at its April 22 meeting, council killed the project based on its non-compliance with the OCP growth designated areas and neighborhood character.

In the second, Arpeg Holdings, of Victoria, applied to build a 10-storey rental building at the Mariner Apartments site at 2181 Comox Avenue. Council also rejected the developer of the Mariner site. Under the new OCP, a six storey building remains possible.

WHY THEY VOTED AGAINST

Comox Mayor Nicole Minions — acclaimed for another term — told Decafnation that she voted not to approve and adopt this OCP for two main reasons: first, because the council majority would not consider step backs for the top 1-2 floors of buildings; and, second, because the plan includes pre-zoning.

“The above two points I felt we heard strongly from the community and did not incorporate, I was compelled to vote against, ” Minions said. “It was good we revisited the Buena Vista area and reduced the height there. It’s a living document and so it will evolve in future years.”

Councillor Jenn Meilleur says the debate became polarized around height and project viability, but that she doesn’t believe growth and (community) character have to be mutually exclusive.

“I voted against … because it didn’t include the guidelines or safeguards to reflect the values around ‘human scale’ that hundreds of people in our community said mattered most to them,” she told Decafnation. “My motion to create a short, focused process to develop (building) design guidelines didn’t pass this time, but the conversation it sparked is exactly the one we need to keep having.”

Councillor Jonathan Kerr said he voted against the OCP as written for several reasons, which “all come down to this: the other four (councillors) weren’t listening to the community.”

Kerr said 77 percent of the speakers at the two OCP public hearings opposed six-storey buildings, and that 32 of the 33 letters sent to council were also opposed.

“For many issues like that, embedded in the OCP, the community voice wasn’t heard by the four (councillors) who voted for it,” he told Decafnation. “This isn’t an Official Council Plan or an Official Developers Plan, this is an Official Community Plan.”

WHAT DO VOTERS WANT?

Throughout the OCP process, public feedback consistently favored retaining a small-town ambience. The town kept pushing toward taller building heights, pre-zoning and would not consider step-backs for the top floors.

The town must try to create more housing for new residents. Comox population continues to increase. It grew by 5.5 percent from 2021 to 2025, according to census data. And it’s not expected to slow down in the near future. 

Are those new residents moving to Comox because it has a small town ambience? 

Do six-story buildings lining the south side of Comox Avenue fit with that vision? Do three-storey multi-family units fit with Buena Vista and Beaufort?

On Election Day, Comox voters have the ultimate voice on blending taller buildings with their vision of community identity. They will do that by electing the candidates they think will best manage these growth issues over the next four years.

This article was updated at 6 pm Sept. 24 to correct the heights of buildings along Comox Avenue.