The Town of Comox may take full control of economic development in the future.
The town has voted unanimously to start a service review of the Economic Development Function at the Comox Valley Regional District.
For the past 33 years, the non-profit society has brought numerous landscape-changing developments for the Comox Valley, including the expansion of the Comox Valley Airport, the evolution of the BC Seafood Festival, the enhancement of Marina Park, the attraction of the Fixed Wing Search and Rescue training centre at 19 Wing CFB Comox, and the redevelopment of the Comox Mall.
Comox Mayor Russ Arnott says, however, the vision of the group is changing from what the vision of the Town of Comox has been lately.
“The last couple of years there’s been increasing criticism to the credibility and the independence of the EDCF through the regional district and we feel like the vision is changing from what the vision of the Town of Comox has been and that is to get some economic drivers here, (and) reduce our property tax burden from our residential.”
He adds that moving forward, depending on the outcome of the review, a few different options are available.
“We’ve made an application to the provincial government to review this. We’ll have to sit down with the regional district and perhaps move towards some mediation but we’ll look at options to repair the service. The options are Comox withdrawal or dissolving the regional district economic development function altogether and Comox just goes and does its own economic development if we are not able to get a proper way forward.”
The town says it hopes that through the service review, a quick and effective solution can be achieved for everyone in the Comox Valley.
More information on the review can be found on the Town of Comox website.
