Require Courtenay to publish rainwater-plan spending and next steps

The drain is part of the story—not the end

Rain on the roof. Water down the driveway. A stream running along the curb. Those familiar moments connect our properties to a larger drainage system—and, potentially, to local waterways. Courtenay’s plan explains the direction. Residents should be able to follow the delivery.

Courtenay adopted its Integrated Rainwater Management Plan in November 2024. The City’s residential stormwater guidance, updated in March 2026, explains that stormwater can reach waterways without treatment and gives residents ways to reduce pollution. These are existing resources, not evidence of a new contamination incident.

February 2026 budget material also describes rainwater-plan implementation work, including monitoring, bylaw updates, assessments and green-infrastructure siting. A draft budget allocation is not the same as a final approved expenditure or proof that a project has been completed. This article does not treat the draft amount as money already spent.

Follow the work as well as the water

A public update could connect the adopted plan with the work carried out during 2026. Useful details would include monitoring locations, progress on source-control guidance, green-infrastructure siting work and actual expenditures. A short table could distinguish completed tasks, work in progress and items still awaiting a decision.

The point is to make a technical programme understandable. Residents can already read advice about keeping pollutants out of drains. They should also be able to follow how the municipality is advancing its own plan. An explanation of data gaps or a delayed assessment would be more informative than implying that adoption alone demonstrates an environmental improvement.

Three next steps residents can actually follow

The petition asks Courtenay City Council and Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering Services for a 2026 implementation update by January 31, 2027. It requests monitoring locations, progress on guidance and siting work, expenditures and the next three deliverable milestones. Existing reports should be reused and linked where they already answer the request.

Our research is primarily based on official records; the independent background source is historical rather than a current progress investigation. We are not alleging inadequate maintenance or a present pollution event. If an equivalent update is already available, Local Voices will add it, correct the record where needed and narrow the campaign to any remaining information gap.