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Welcome to North Cowichan&#39;s public consultation and community engagement space to connect and learn.&nbsp;We are committed to hearing from diverse perspectives that will help inform how we move forward on projects, programs, services, and policies.Sign up and stay in the know about engagement opportunities, as well as next steps in projects that are important to you.

Let's Connect, North Cowichan

Help develop a <a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/safercommunity">Safer Community Plan</a> by learning more and sharing your ideas or comments.People, especially those most directly impacted by the issues surrounding homelessness, addictions, and street disorder in the highway corridor, can complete the survey.

Safer Community Plan

Municipal budgeting is a year-round process, and public input is always welcome. Learn about the 2025 North Cowichan municipal budget, and share your comments about the services your tax dollars pay for.<h2>Participate</h2>Between the fall and spring each year, Council learns about each department&#39;s upcoming year&#39;s business plan, the five-year financial plan and capital expenditure plan, grant-in-aid requests, utility budgets, and tax rates. Residents are encouraged to attend the meetings (either online or in-person at Municipal Hall), to listen and learn, and ask questions to Council and staff.Attend a budget meeting in-person or online:<table style="width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Nov 12, 2024</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Grant-in-aid Review</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Nov 19, 2024</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Business Plan Review (Part 1)</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Nov 26, 2024</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Business Plan Review (Part 2)</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Dec 10, 2024</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Operating and Capital Financial Plan Review</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Jan 7, 2025</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Utility Rate Review</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Jan 15, 2025</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Financial Plan Bylaw (first 3 readings)</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Council meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Feb 5, 2025</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Financial Plan Bylaw (adoption)</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Council meeting</td></tr></tbody></table>Note: online meeting links will be added to the page linked above closer to each meeting date.Unable to attend a meeting? Not to worry. Email your questions and comments to <a href="mailto:budget@northcowichan.ca">budget@northcowichan.ca</a>The agendas for these meetings are posted <a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/municipal-hall/mayor-council/agendas-minutes-video" title="here">here</a>, the Friday before each meeting.<h2>Background</h2>Spanning 195 square kilometers, North Cowichan is the largest District Municipality by area on Vancouver Island, and is home to over 32,000 residents. A community of communities, North Cowichan is made up of several unique communities that include Chemainus, Crofton, Maple Bay, and many neighbourhoods that are centered around the greater-Duncan area.Your municipal tax dollars pay for a wide variety of projects and services, serving this vast geographical area. From police and fire services to parks and recreation facilities, to roads, road maintenance, and water services.<h4>Services provided by North Cowichan:</h4><img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/b21ee487aff9b4bc236db851f207d76f90c2fd93/original/1722024657/clone97clonea434b217cbdf4bf6842d876721e4b37928_ServicesProvided2.jpg?1722024657" style="width: 593px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"><h4> </h4><h4>Services not provided by North Cowichan:</h4><img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/726f5f8b05aeb33b2625ead10afba7b768d76c59/original/1722024657/clonefaclone6268d1d43debbe852ca45545a424e57f75_ServicesNotProvided2.jpg?1722024657" style="width: 505px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"><h2> Challenges</h2>Every year presents its own budget challenges and difficult decisions, and North Cowichan&#39;s annual budget aims for a balance between setting a reasonable tax rate and delivering services expected by residents and businesses. Common challenges include:<ul><li>The budget must balance</li><li>There is increased downloading from other levels of government, increased pressure to provide additional services; and increasing regulations that necessitate higher standards of care</li><li>Aging infrastructure and increasing construction costs</li><li>Increased non-controllable expenditures such as hydro and insurance</li></ul><h2>Creating the budget</h2>Every year Council and staff work together to develop an annual budget. The budget serves as an outline for how money that comes into the municipality should be spent to maintain and improve the community.With limited resources available, the budget helps in determining which objectives have the highest priority and will produce the greatest positive impact in the community. <h2>Plans that influence the budget</h2>The budget process, and the decisions that must be made on how to best lead the development of a safe, vibrant and sustainable municipality, are supported by the following plans:<ul><li><a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/business-development/community-planning/official-community-plan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Official Community Plan">Official Community Plan</a></li><li><a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/municipal-hall/mayor-council/council-strategic-plan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="2019 – 2022 Council Strategic Plan">2019 &ndash; 2022+ Council Strategic Plan</a></li><li>2025 Departmental Business Plans<ul><li>Coming soon </li></ul></li></ul><h2>A balancing act</h2>Each year North Cowichan must balance the budget. While a municipality can use debt to pay for large capital projects, it cannot use debt to fund day to day operations. Therefore, revenue sources must be identified to cover all anticipated expenditures. To balance the budget, a careful analysis of the level of service needed to meet the expectations of the community balanced against realistic taxation and user fees must occur.We are a service organization. Our customers include: youth, families, seniors, pet owners, renters, home owners, business owners, workers, employees, retirees, pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, developers, walkers, sports enthusiasts, artists. Our challenge is to meet the needs of as many of these customers as possible in a fiscally responsible way. But the needs and wants of our customers are not always the same, and we must also attempt to balance these sometimes conflicting needs and wants.<h2>Revenue</h2>Municipalities use a variety of revenue sources to pay for a wide range of services that residents and businesses depend on and use regularly. User fees attempt to align the value of a service to those who use the service (eg. water, garbage). Whereas property taxes are a stable and reliable source of revenue for services that are hard or undesirable to fund on a user-pay basis (eg. police and fire).<h4>Revenue Sources (2022)<img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/b32cc346595eabab830060d57f1392b6a9ee4e1a/original/1722024657/clone6fclonebbda23dffb174fde8f549471fc9531bdff_2022_revenue_sources.png?1722024657" style="width: 588px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"></h4> <h2>Value for taxpayers</h2>79% of people surveyed in our <a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/assets/Departments/Communications/2022CitizenSatisfactionSurveyResults_Final.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2022 Citizen Satisfaction Survey</a> felt that they were getting fairly good or very good value for the services North Cowichan provides. Many of our services are available 24/7, 365 days per year. Employees are always on call to deal with emergencies and events such as fires, accidents, blocked drains, fallen trees, and snow storms.<h2>Property taxes and assessments</h2>Tax revenue is made up of property taxes and parcel taxes and together they make up 43.5% of the total revenue of the municipality. Property taxes are based on the assessed value of property as determined by BC Assessment, an independent third party who values all property in British Columbia. Taxes are calculated as:<img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/da0465146840cdadbc20c3c6b9cbda60b1dc2953/original/1722024657/clone55clonec620305eb1334c042e2290d70991bcf7cf_PropertyTaxesAssessments2.jpg?1722024657" style="width: 517px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">Rising assessments do not necessarily mean that property taxes will increase. The most important factor is not how much your assessment has changed, but how your assessment has changed relative to the average change for your property class.If your assessment increases by 20% but the average assessment increases by 30%, your taxes will likely decrease. But if your assessment increases by 40% and the average assessment increases by 30%, your taxes will likely increase.<h2>How does North Cowichan compare? </h2>North Cowichan has some of the lowest taxes in the province for similarly sized municipalities (that have a population between 20,000 and 50,000), with total taxes and charges on a representative house less than the provincial average.<img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/d0144ec09e2b589580c4e2aefb09eeba81f4317e/original/1722024657/clone92clone5a695b1b5d2685dba44032e308e4a85b6c_2022_comparison_population.png?1722024657" style="width: 672px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">Per capita, North Cowichan&rsquo;s taxes are very similar to other municipalities on Vancouver Island with populations greater than 15,000. North Cowichan&rsquo;s taxes per capita are $1,060 as compared to the average of $1,110.<img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/24b601096b0ef7c5753e968036feb1ea87b7839b/original/1722024658/clone39clonefb31e598128d3f77d396bef9b700a40606_2022_comparison_other_vancouver_island_munis.png?1722024658" style="width: 651px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">

Budget 2025

Work is underway to move the Joint Utilities Board treated sewage effluent outfall from the Cowichan River to a new location at the embayment line in Cowichan Bay.Public engagement on this project will be starting in the near future. Sign up or follow this project to be notified of updates and next steps.There are several reasons to relocate the outfall:<ul type="disc"><li>The treatment plant is on land leased from Cowichan Tribes. The lease agreement includes a commitment to make a reasonable effort to move the outfall from the Cowichan River.</li><li>During periods of very low river flow, there is not enough flow to provide the desired amount of effluent dilution. Low river flows, in particular during the summer and early fall, are expected to become more frequent due to climate change.</li><li>The existing outfall infrastructure in the river is at risk of damage from log jams and gravel accumulation.</li><li>Moving the outfall from the river may trigger a reassessment of the current shellfish harvesting moratorium in Cowichan Bay.</li></ul>A new outfall locationExtensive studies, First Nations consultations and interest group/public engagement have identified the preferred location of the new outfall at the embayment line of Cowichan Bay. This outfall pipe will enter Cowichan Bay at Hecate Park.<img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/23efe01d0d1eefb38e34dde62c11b44dc994cfb8/original/1730495018/f15bbe5035ed14fba3435dfefd07fb38_JUB_STP_Outfall_Marine_Map_Oct28_Final.jpg?1730495018">Map: Final marine routing to embayment lineAt this time, an anchorage (Anchorage B) near the embayment line is blocking the route to the preferred location.<blockquote>North Cowichan is working with Transport Canada in the hope that this anchorage can be removed before work begins. A suitable location for an interim outfall location has been identified if it is necessary. A public notice regarding the new outfall location has been installed at Hecate Park as required by Transport Canada (on the online <a href="http://cps.canada.ca/">Navigable Waters Registry</a> and under registry number 6565, or, under the NPP File Number 2021-504773). The public comment period is November 13, 2024 to December 13, 2024. Comments may be made in writing to <a href="mailto:NPPPAC-PPNPAC@tc.gc.ca">NPPPAC-PPNPAC@tc.gc.ca</a></blockquote>The outfall locations will provide significant dilution of the cleaned effluent in deeper water. Modelling shows that the discharge will meet federal and provincial standards, even with increased quantities of effluent as the population grows. The 400 metre buffer zone (shown in green) shows the limit of the shellfish harvesting exclusion zone and avoids known shellfish beds (shown in pink).An <a href="https://www.connectnorthcowichan.ca/27945/widgets/114900/documents/142265">Environmental Impact Study (Receiving Environment Monitoring Program) (PDF)</a> is guiding the project monitoring. Pre-discharge monitoring and baseline studies have assessed the suitability of the discharge locations and established the background conditions in the receiving environment (Cowichan Bay) prior to installation of the new outfall. Ongoing monitoring after the outfall is operational will take place with the assistance of local First Nations.Proposed pipeline routing (on land) The cleaned effluent will no longer go into the Cowichan River, but will be transported by pipe from the treatment plant to the new Cowichan Bay outfall.Through extensive consultation with First Nations, interest groups, and the public, a preferred pipeline route has been selected. This will see the pipe buried underground along road rights-of-way through reserve lands of Cowichan Tribes, along part of Cowichan Bay Road, and into the marine environment at Hecate Park. From here the pipe will rest on the seafloor and out to the new outfall.Eelgrass protectionSteps to mitigate any impacts to important eelgrass beds in the Cowichan Bay estuary will be taken and where necessary, the eelgrass will be replaced and enhanced. The marine portion of the pipe will rest on the sea floor or in a trench for some sections.Public and interest group engagementPublic conversations about relocating the outfall began in 2015 with public engagement led by the Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD). Interest group engagement began in 2018, led by North Cowichan.In 2020 and 2021, additional public engagement on proposed land and marine pipe routing took place through online discussions and a webinar.<ul><li>Project updates and engagement reports can be found in the Documents section of this page.</li></ul>First Nations consultationFirst Nations consultations have been taking place over the duration of this project. This consultation involves in depth conversations with Cowichan Tribes, Pauquachin First Nation, W̱S&Aacute;NEĆ Leadership Council (Tsartlip, Tseycum, and initially Tsawout First Nations), Malahat Nation, and Tsawout First Nation.About the sewage treatment plant and outfallThe Joint Utilities Board Sewage Treatment Plant is a hybrid secondary/tertiary treatment plant that treats wastewater. The plant and outfall serve approximately 14,000 households and businesses in parts of North Cowichan, Duncan, Cowichan Bay, Eagle Heights and Cowichan Tribes (the CVRD Central Sector Area).The plant is located on Cowichan Tribes&rsquo; land near Duncan and is operated by North Cowichan. The plant discharges highly treated effluent (cleaned water) into the Cowichan River, approximately 5 kilometres upstream from the head of Cowichan Bay. While this effluent meets provincial swimming safety standards, it is not clean enough for drinking.About the Joint Utilities Board (JUB)The Duncan-North Cowichan <a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/EN/main/municipal-hall/mayor-and-council/committees-commissions/boards-and-panels.html">Joint Utilities Board</a> is governed by Duncan-North Cowichan Joint Utilities Agreement Bylaw 1977 and is comprised of two members from City of Duncan Council and two members from the Municipality of North Cowichan Council. The Board governs the joint financing, construction, operation and maintenance of certain municipal utilities and sewerage facilities for the benefit of both municipalities, including the sewage lagoons and outfall.

Relocating the Cowichan River outfall

Automated curbside collection for garbage and organics (food and yard waste) is coming to North Cowichan in 2025. It&rsquo;s time to get ready! Follow along here for the latest updates and to ask questions. About automated curbside collectionNorth Cowichan is getting new waste collection trucks &ndash; and the new trucks will be equipped for automated curbside collection. This means mechanical arms will lift carts and empty them into the collection truck.In order for the arms to work, all residents will need uniform carts &ndash; these are provided by North Cowichan and are expected to be delivered in early 2025.<h3 class="fr-text-bordered" style="text-align: right;">We&rsquo;re getting started to make sure you have the information for this important change.</h3>

Automated Curbside Collection

North Cowichan is amending its zoning bylaw to comply with the new requirements of the Local Government Act in respect of small-scale multi-unit housing. North Cowichan is required to adopt the zoning amendment by June 30, 2024. There are additional steps and deadlines that the Municipality must meet to comply with the new legislation. Stay informed by subscribing to project updates. More information coming soon!

Provincial Housing Changes (Bill 44)

Survey: Economic opportunities and challenges