All four bylaws that were up for public consideration during the Unified AAP process last month have been approved by the community.
The Comox Valley Regional District released the results of the vote on Feb. 24, saying that "Less than 10 per cent of the eligible electors signed and submitted elector response forms by the deadline for all four CVRD initiatives."
In an AAP, voters sign forms if they are opposed to a bylaw or service passing. Those who are in favour do not vote. If more than 10 per cent of the electorate speak against a certain bylaw, the board will consider other options, including taking it to referendum.
According to provincial laws, the corporate officer must reject ballots for several reasons, including when an elector signs more than one form, or is determined to be ineligible. They are also rejected when more than one non-resident property elector signed a form about the same property and when a non-resident property elector signed a form about a property owned in whole or in part by a corporation.
"In this instance, the vast majority of rejected elector response forms were either due to duplicate forms submitted or ineligibility, as residents were outside of the defined service area," the release from the CVRD says.
The results are as follows:
- Union Bay Fire Hall: 10 per cent threshold: 104 Elector Response Forms Accepted: 73 (7 per cent). Number of rejected forms: 623
- Artificial Turf Field: 10 per cent threshold: 5,614 Elector Response Forms Accepted: 2,132 (3.7 per cent). Number of rejected forms: 94
- Housing Supports: 10 per cent threshold: 6,213 Elector Response Forms Accepted: 5,038 (8.1 per cent). Number of rejected forms: 370
- Homelessness Supports: 10 per cent threshold: 4,701 Elector Response Forms Accepted: 3,698 (7.9 per cent). Number of rejected forms: 669
At the Feb. 25 board meeting, two groups made delegations about the AAP process, Andrew Rice from Comox Valley Action, who was joined by Rachelle Gardiner-Hines. They spoke about their opposition to the AAP process. Bob Long also made a delegation against the AAP process. Comox Director Ken Grant moved to reconsider the Emergency Shelter and Supportive Housing land acquisition service as a referendum in the October, 2026 general election. That motion was defeated.
All four bylaws were passed during the meeting.
