Courtenay opens the door for private digital signs
The City of Courtenay appears to have opened the door for private businesses to erect electronic message boards, despite previous public input opposed to such signs. City Council is split on whether their variance for Prime Chophouse sets a precedent.
Comox Valley lags the world without ban on plastic bags
The Comox Valley uses and discards between 9,000 and 19,000 plastic shopping bags per day. While other Vancouver Island communities are following the worldwide movement to enact bans of the non-biodegradable bags, most Valley elected officials don’t seem interested.
Could Kus-kus-sum go coastal?
The importance of the planned restoration of the Fields Sawmill site may well go beyond repairing a blight on the Comox Valley’s image. It’s likely to influence the prospects of a coast-wide approach to replacing multiple forest industry eyesores with ecological assets.
Waste to energy discussion missed the GHG point
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has committed Canada to aggressive reductions in our annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. It will take a coordinated national effort to get there, and that means small communities across the country, like the Comox Valley …
CVRD internal tension builds over waste to energy report
The tension between staff and elected officials of the Comox Strathcona Waste Management board (CSWM) ramped up another notch this week. The friction has increased since directors openly criticized Comox Valley Regional District staff at a full CSWM board …
No boil-water advisories in Cumberland
Cumberland residents have avoided boil-water advisories with their own water system, which they are improving with additional levels of treatment and rebuilding some 100-year-old infrastructure …
Ruth Masters — environmentalist
Ruth Jessie Masters was a war veteran, avid hiker, historian, naturalist, environmentalist, protester but maybe most importantly she was one of ours – born and raised in the Comox Valley. She was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital …
Should the north Island bury its garbage or convert it to energy?
The next time you drag your trash bins to the curb, think about what happens next to that garbage. If you have conscientiously reduced, recycled and reused, you will have sent just a small amount of waste to the Pigeon Lake dump, now known by the gentrified title …
Beech Street shelved: better solutions under review
For nearly three years, a group of rural Comox Valley citizens has warned the Courtenay-Comox Sewage Commission about the environmental and financial risks of building a sewage pump station on a small Croteau Beach lot. They’ve spent their own money on independent...
Erik Eriksson announces bid for mayor of Courtenay
The 2018 municipal election campaign got a jump start this week when Courtenay Councillor Erik Eriksson told Decafnation that he’s running for mayor. Eriksson is the first Comox Valley candidate to formally announce his campaign. While most incumbents and potential...
Abbeyfield closure highlights seniors housing issues
They come here to retire. They come from across Canada, the United States and other countries. They come for the Comox Valley’s moderate climate and spectacular landscape. They come, they stay and they age. And so the Comox Valley's population has aged at a rate...
Comox Council ignores good faith offer to fix Shakesides roof
The purposeful neglect of the Mack Laing heritage house by the Town of Comox has reached a new low. Hamilton Mack Laing gave his house, known as Shakesides, along with a substantial sum of money in his Last Will and Testament for the purpose of converting it into a...