Karver Everson describes his design for the new Glacier View roundabout pole as "deeply rooted in the history and culture of the Pentlatch and K'ómoks peoples." He is talking about eight months of carving on a single totem pole. He could just as easily be talking about the work unfolding across Comox this year.
Across 2026, four separate public spaces in Comox have reached or are nearing completion, and none of them started on the same clock. One traces back to a 1973 estate gift and a court case that outlasted the man whose trust it concerned. One is a shoreline park that spent four years under a different name. One is a family's private garden that became public property this spring. One is a totem pole that didn't exist as an idea until a call for artists went out last fall. They have distinct funding arrangements and project schedules. Their timelines have unfolded across 2026, which is rarer than it sounds and worth understanding if you live here.
A Park Reopened With a New Name
If you drive Comox Road past the estuary, the park that used to be called Dyke Road Park is not gone. It has a new name, a new boardwalk, and a story that took most of a decade to finish.
qapoje Park reopened to the public in July 2026 after a multi-year ecological restoration led by the Comox Valley Regional District. The name comes from the ayajusem term for Coho Creek, the waterway that runs from Back Road, under Comox Road, and through the park into the estuary. It means "spring salmon in a creek flowing south." The restoration removed invasive species, carved a new tidal channel for juvenile salmon, stabilized the shoreline using Green Shores design principles, and added an elevated boardwalk, a reconstructed parking area, and interpretive signage developed with K'ómoks First Nation.
None of that came from one source. The project drew from six different funders:
| Funder | Contribution |
|---|---|
| UBCM Community Emergency Preparedness Fund | $1.14 million |
| Federal Build Communities Strong Fund | $685,790 |
| Pacific Salmon Foundation | $70,000 |
| Project Watershed | $68,000 |
| Nature Trust of BC | $50,000 |
| BC Hydro Regreening Grant | $8,000 |
That is roughly $2 million pieced together from provincial disaster mitigation dollars, a federal infrastructure fund, three separate conservation nonprofits, and a utility grant, all to rebuild one shoreline park. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities recognized the project with a Sustainable Communities Award in 2024, two years before the boardwalk actually opened. That gap between the award and the ribbon cutting is the pattern to notice. Public space in Comox rarely moves on one timeline. It moves on however many timelines it takes to get funded.
The Trust Dispute Finally Gets Its Platform
A few minutes away, at Mack Laing Nature Park, a different kind of delay is closing out.
Mack Laing was a naturalist who lived on the Comox waterfront in the early 1900s and donated his home and land to the town in 1973, along with a trust meant to maintain the property as a museum. He died in 1982. The building, known as Shakesides, sat empty for years before the town concluded it could not be safely repaired or funded as a museum and asked the courts to vary the trust. A local heritage society opposed the change. The dispute ran until 2023, when the BC Supreme Court approved a joint application from the town and the provincial attorney general to demolish Shakesides and build a viewing platform on its foundation instead, preserving the same sightline over the water that Laing had from his own front door.
Construction began this year with a Cultural Heritage Investigation Permit in place and ongoing consultation with K'ómoks First Nation. The approved budget is $680,600, with $300,000 drawn from the original trust and the balance from the town's 2026 to 2030 financial plan. The platform is expected to open this fall, more than fifty years after Laing signed the land over and more than forty years after he died still waiting for the museum he'd asked for.
A Family's Backyard Becomes Everyone's Park
Just next door, on Balmoral Avenue, a different kind of project moved at a completely different speed.
The town purchased the property that is now Newson Family Nature Park this spring, closing on March 1, 2026, for $3.84 million paid entirely from developer park contribution funds already on hand, with no impact on property taxes. The site sits adjacent to Mack Laing Nature Park, Macdonald Wood, and Brooklyn Creek, making it a direct neighbor to the viewing platform project rather than a separate corner of town.
The Newson family has roots in the Comox Valley going back four generations. To mark that, the park will include a stone masonry base with an anchor and a plaque detailing the Newson and Fairbairn family history, a labyrinth monument, a preserved section of the family's dahlia gardens, memorial trees, and dedicated benches. In a report by Victoria Buzz, Richelle Newson said of her parents:
"Both of our parents, George and Kella-Lee Newson, embodied a spirit of caring, generosity, and service to our family and wider community."
The property was closed to the public for roughly six months while the existing house and outbuildings were removed. Access is expected later this fall, on a timeline the town has not pinned to an exact date.
Eight Months of Cedar at the Top of the Hill
The fourth project sits apart from the other three, both geographically and in what it commemorates.
At the top of Comox Hill, where Comox Avenue meets Glacier View Drive in a roundabout that serves as the main gateway into town, Karver Everson has spent roughly eight months carving a totem pole that will feature the Suwa'lqum, or Thunderbird, an important crest for the Pentlatch people, above a guardian figure. Everson, a Pentlatch and K'ómoks band member and Kwakwaka'wakw carver born in the Comox Valley, was selected for the commission in February 2026 following a call for expressions of interest the town issued the previous fall. He has also carved welcome figures for the Village of Cumberland and a guardian pole for Courtenay's Airpark Trail.
The site itself carries history. Everson has explained that the location was historically known as Iwus, meaning "on top," and once served as a lookout point where a fort watched for boats and canoes arriving below. The pole is meant to revive that history for people passing through the roundabout today. Progress photos shared by the town in August showed the carving well underway, with a community celebration and unveiling planned for later this fall.
Four Different Ledgers, One Year
None of these four projects answers to the same budget. The viewing platform and the Newson park both sit inside the Town of Comox's 2026 financial plan, funded through a mix of trust money and development contributions. qapoje Park belongs to the Comox Valley Regional District and was built almost entirely on outside grants and conservation partnerships. The totem pole runs through the town's public art program, a process that started with an open call rather than a line item in a parks budget.
That separation is worth sitting with. qapoje Park reopened in July, while the viewing platform, Newson park and totem pole are expected to reach milestones this fall. Their timelines do not follow one shared schedule. Last month, on September 19, the Comox Dragon Boat Festival brought crowds back to Comox Marina Park for the first big gathering of the fall season, the kind of afternoon that usually marks the point where summer's pace starts to slow down. Instead, the weeks since have been busier than usual, with three more finish lines still ahead before the year turns over.
Whether that convergence repeats next year is not something anyone can promise. Trust disputes do not resolve on a schedule, land does not come up for sale on request, and totem poles take however long the wood and the story require. This particular stretch of work, with four projects unfolding on different timelines, is not something Comox is likely to see again on purpose.
If you're curious how a shifting waterfront and a redrawn hillside gateway change the way people think about specific pockets of Comox, Jane Denham Real Estate Group keeps close track of these local changes as part of covering the town day to day. Reach out any time you want a longer conversation about what's happening in your corner of it.
