Climate change can sometimes feel like a very large issue for a municipal government to address.
Cities do not control global energy markets or national climate policy. But local governments are responsible for much of the infrastructure and many of the services that are directly affected when extreme weather occurs.
We maintain roads and drainage systems. We manage parks and public buildings. We plan neighbourhoods and regulate development. We help coordinate emergency response. We also make decisions about infrastructure that may remain in service for 50 years or longer.
For Courtenay, climate action therefore has two important dimensions.
We need to reduce emissions where we reasonably can.
But we also need to prepare our community for the conditions we know are changing.
That second part—climate adaptation and resilience—is becoming increasingly important.
Courtenay has already experienced the consequences
For our community, extreme weather is not a theoretical future concern.
In December 2014, an intense rainfall event caused widespread flooding and resulted in a local state of emergency.
Only weeks later, an unusually low snowpack raised concerns about water supply heading into the summer months.
Since then, Vancouver Island communities have experienced atmospheric rivers, heat events, drought conditions, wildfire smoke and increasingly severe seasonal weather.
Individual events cannot always be attributed to one cause, but the long-term planning challenge is clear.
Courtenay needs infrastructure and emergency plans capable of functioning under conditions that may be different from those for which older systems were originally designed.
Understanding our flood risk
Courtenay's geography makes flood planning particularly important.
The city is located where river systems meet the estuary, which means different types of flooding can affect the community.
Heavy rainfall can increase river levels.
Extreme rainfall can overwhelm drainage systems.
High tides and storm surge can affect coastal water levels.
Over the longer term, sea-level rise adds another consideration.
These risks can also occur together.
That is why flood planning cannot focus on a single river, neighbourhood or piece of infrastructure.
Courtenay's Flood Management Plan, adopted by Council in 2026, takes a city-wide approach to understanding these risks and identifying ways to reduce their consequences.
A plan with 86 recommended actions
The Flood Management Plan contains 86 recommended actions.
Those recommendations range from relatively immediate measures to projects and policy decisions that could unfold over decades.
Potential responses include protecting or upgrading infrastructure, improving emergency preparedness, changing how development occurs in higher-risk areas and using natural systems to help reduce flood impacts.
This is important because there is no single project that can eliminate Courtenay's flood risk.
Building a higher wall in one location may protect one area while changing how water behaves somewhere else.
Similarly, replacing a culvert or enlarging a storm pipe may solve a specific drainage problem without addressing the larger watershed.
Effective flood management requires us to look at the system as a whole.
Rainwater is part of the same system
How we manage rainfall within the city is another important piece of climate resilience.
When rain falls on forests, fields and other permeable surfaces, much of it can soak into the ground.
Urban development changes that.
Roofs, roads, parking lots and other hard surfaces cause more water to run rapidly into drains, streams and rivers.
Courtenay adopted an Integrated Rainwater Management Plan in 2024 to guide how this water is managed.
The plan considers traditional infrastructure such as storm pipes and catch basins alongside natural assets such as wetlands, streams and rivers.
uce flooding and runoff while protecting waterways, replenishing soil moisture and improving the overall resilience of the drainage system.
This is another example of environmental planning and infrastructure planning becoming increasingly interconnected.
Natural infrastructure has real value
A wetland can store water.
Trees can intercept rainfall and provide shade.
Healthy soils absorb water.
Vegetated areas can slow runoff.
Riverbanks and riparian areas can provide habitat while also helping manage erosion.
These are environmental benefits, but they can also provide infrastructure benefits.
Courtenay's approach increasingly recognizes natural assets as part of the systems that support the community.
That does not eliminate the need for engineered infrastructure.
We will continue to need storm drains, culverts, roads, dikes and other built assets.
The opportunity is to determine where natural systems can complement those assets, reduce pressure on them or provide a more resilient long-term solution.
The Anderton Riverbank Restoration discussed in the previous article is one example of that thinking.
Our urban forest is infrastructure too
Trees are another important part of climate resilience.
Courtenay's Urban Forest Strategy establishes a long-term canopy-cover target of 34 to 40 per cent and provides direction for managing trees across streets, parks and natural areas.
In 2025, the City's Urban Forest and Natural Areas team was responsible for approximately 8,600 public trees.
The City has also been developing a five-year planting program intended to increase planting beyond the current average of roughly 190 trees per year, particularly in parks, greenways and street corridors with lower canopy cover.
Trees provide many benefits at once.
They create shade during hot weather, absorb rainfall, provide habitat, improve neighbourhoods and store carbon.
But an urban forest also needs to be managed.
Trees age. Some become hazardous. Others are affected by disease, drought or changing environmental conditions.
A resilient urban forest therefore requires planting new trees while maintaining the mature trees that already provide substantial benefits.
Water conservation is becoming increasingly important
Climate resilience also involves preparing for periods when there is too little water.
Summer drought conditions have become a recurring concern in the Comox Valley.
In July 2026, Courtenay implemented Stage 3 water restrictions, including a prohibition on lawn watering. The City also reduced non-essential water use in parks, boulevards and landscaped areas while continuing limited watering required to protect trees, sports fields and essential public amenities.
These restrictions demonstrate why long-term water planning matters.
Water infrastructure needs to be designed around more than average annual consumption.
The system must also respond to peak demand, particularly during hot and dry summer periods when available water may already be under greater pressure.
Courtenay's decision to move toward phased residential water metering is part of that larger conversation.
Conservation, infrastructure capacity and long-term water security are closely connected.
Resilience is also fiscal responsibility
There is a financial reason to plan for climate risks before infrastructure fails.
Emergency repairs are rarely the least expensive way to manage public assets.
If we know that a road, drainage system, public building or neighbourhood faces increasing risk, we have an opportunity to consider that risk when the infrastructure is being renewed.
That does not mean rebuilding everything immediately.
It means incorporating better information into the decisions we are already making.
When a culvert needs replacement, what rainfall conditions should the new one accommodate?
When a public facility reaches the end of its useful life, does rebuilding in the same location make sense?
When a road is reconstructed, can drainage improvements be incorporated at the same time?
When development is proposed, what do we know about future flood conditions?
These decisions can help avoid locking the City into infrastructure that becomes increasingly expensive or vulnerable over its lifetime.
We also need to think about who is most vulnerable
Extreme weather does not affect everyone equally.
A prolonged heat event can be particularly dangerous for seniors, people with health or mobility challenges and residents without access to cooling.
Flooding can be devastating for households that do not have the financial resources to recover quickly.
People experiencing homelessness may have very limited protection from extreme heat, cold, smoke or storms.
Accessibility also matters during an evacuation or emergency response.
Climate resilience therefore needs to include more than physical infrastructure.
Emergency planning, communication, shelters, cooling spaces and partnerships with community organizations are all part of helping residents through extreme events.
A resilient city is not simply one where the infrastructure survives.
It is one where people are better prepared and supported as well.
Working regionally makes sense
Water, weather and watersheds do not stop at municipal boundaries.
Many of the environmental systems affecting Courtenay extend throughout the Comox Valley and beyond.
That makes regional cooperation essential.
Flood mapping, water conservation, emergency management, watershed protection and climate adaptation all benefit from coordination between Courtenay, the Comox Valley Regional District, neighbouring municipalities, K'ómoks First Nation and senior governments.
Courtenay has already participated in regional climate-adaptation initiatives and joint funding applications.
That cooperation should continue.
It avoids unnecessary duplication, provides access to broader expertise and helps us approach environmental systems at the scale at which they actually function.
Using grants to prepare before emergencies happen
Senior governments increasingly provide funding specifically for disaster-risk reduction and climate adaptation.
Courtenay should continue to pursue those programs aggressively.
Grant funding can help pay for technical studies, planning, environmental restoration and infrastructure improvements that would otherwise fall more heavily on local taxpayers.
The Anderton Riverbank Restoration planning work is one example.
Courtenay has also worked with regional partners and K'ómoks First Nation on applications for disaster-risk reduction and climate-adaptation funding.
Being prepared matters here too.
Governments with completed plans, identified priorities and well-developed projects are often in a stronger position when funding opportunities become available.
Climate planning is therefore not simply about identifying risks.
It helps position the City to obtain outside funding to address them.
Environmental responsibility needs to be practical
Climate policy can become highly polarized when it is discussed only in abstract terms.
At the municipal level, I think the conversation needs to remain practical:
- Can we reduce the energy required to operate a City building?
- Can we protect infrastructure from flooding?
- Can we improve drainage while protecting waterways?
- Can we conserve water during drought?
- Can trees help reduce heat and manage rainfall?
- Can we design new infrastructure to perform better over its entire lifespan?
- Can we obtain provincial or federal funding so local taxpayers do not carry the entire cost?
These are tangible questions with tangible consequences.
They are also decisions local government can actually influence.
Planning for the Courtenay our children will inherit
Many of the infrastructure decisions Council makes today will outlast the people making them.
A new fire hall, bridge, stormwater system or restored riverbank may still be serving Courtenay decades from now.
That creates a responsibility to think beyond today's conditions.
We cannot know exactly what the climate will look like 30 or 50 years from now.
But we do know enough to understand that flood risk, drought, extreme heat and severe weather need to be incorporated into long-term municipal planning.
Ignoring those risks does not save money.
It transfers the cost—and potentially much greater risk—to the people who will have to deal with the consequences later.
Environmental responsibility means reducing our impact where we can, protecting the natural systems that support our community and making practical investments today that leave Courtenay better prepared for the conditions we will face tomorrow.