City of Courtenay

The City’s previous website launched in 2014 and no longer aligned with the expectations of a modern municipal digital experience. Through community consultation, resident satisfaction surveys, and internal feedback, the City identified the website as a critical area for improvement — particularly around accessibility, navigation, search functionality, and online service delivery. The City was also in the process of rolling out a new corporate identity and graphic standards program, creating an opportunity to modernize both the visual design and user experience of the website. However, the project needed to balance this visual refresh with practical operational goals, including:

• Creating a more customer-centric experience rather than an internally organized website structure 
• Improving accessibility and usability across all devices and demographics 
• Making information easier to locate through stronger navigation and search tools 
• Supporting future online services and community engagement initiatives 
• Providing a user-friendly CMS experience for a small internal staff team 
• Ensuring the platform remained secure, scalable, and compliant with privacy requirements in Canada

The City also wanted a website that felt distinct from surrounding municipalities while still remaining approachable, intuitive, and highly functional for the public.

Upanup partnered closely with the City of Courtenay and its third-party communications consultant to deliver a fully custom Drupal website experience tailored to the City’s goals, brand standards, and community priorities. The project followed a collaborative six-phase methodology:

• Strategy 
• Design 
• Development 
• Content migration 
• Testing 
• Launch

Early planning included a comprehensive:

• Community survey 
• Content audit and inventory 
• Content modeling exercise 
• Sitemap review and restructuring 
• User testing during beta phase

What We Delivered

• Fully custom municipal website redesign and redevelopment 
• Accessibility-first design aligned with WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards 
• Responsive design optimized for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices 
• Customer-focused information architecture and navigation 
• Advanced search functionality with prominent header search 
• Flexible Drupal CMS with user roles, workflows, and approval processes 
• Interactive integrations including: 
  • ArcGIS mapping 
  • eScribe meeting management 
  • CyberImpact email subscriptions 
  • Routeware garbage and recycling tools 
  • Entra ID single sign-on integration 
• Dynamic notifications and page-specific alerts 
• Event calendar and meeting agenda functionality 
• Homepage quick links and customizable featured content areas 
• Accessibility-focused editor training and long-term content governance support
• Canadian hosting and secure infrastructure aligned with municipal privacy requirements

The custom design prioritized a modern, service-focused experience while showcasing the natural beauty and character of the community through visual storytelling, photography, and streamlined layouts. The City also worked collaboratively with Upanup to blend elements from multiple design concepts into a final solution that reflected both usability and brand identity goals.

The redesigned courtenay.ca launched in July 2025 as a modern, accessible, and community-focused digital platform that better supports how residents interact with local government. 

The new website:

• Improves access to City services and information 
• Provides a more intuitive and inclusive user experience 
• Strengthens accessibility and mobile usability 
• Gives staff greater flexibility and confidence in managing website content 
• Creates a scalable foundation for future digital services and community engagement initiatives

The project also received international recognition through several awards:

• 2026 Communicator Awards of Distinction in the categories of: 
  • Website Redesign
  • Government Communications 
• 2026 AVA Digital Awards, winning Gold for the Web-Based Production, Website Redesign category

Quotes

“Our website is one of the most important ways residents connect with the City, access services and stay informed, and we’re really pleased it’s getting recognized again. The City’s new website reflects our commitment to clear communication, accessibility and transparency, and to making it easier for people to engage with the work of their local government.” — Courtenay Mayor Bob Wells

“Working with the City of Courtenay on this project has been an incredible opportunity for our team. Their commitment to improving digital access and user experience for their community aligned strongly with our shared approach for modern public-sector websites. We’re proud to support a solution that helps make information and services more accessible, intuitive, and engaging for residents.” — Peter Knapp, CEO, Upanup