City of Powell River Council has voted to amend a development permit previously approved by council for construction of phase one of the mixed-used aviation park at Powell River Airport.
At the December 3 city council meeting, councillors voted in favour of the amendment to accommodate requirements by Transport Canada.
Councillor Rob Southcott said this is an amendment to what council originally saw for this project.
“The amendment simply accommodates the federal requirements on the air side of this development,” said Southcott. “It has been revealed to the developers that there needs to be a taxiway. The first phase of this development simply needs to be pushed back a bit and that’s what this is about.”
According to a report from director of planning services Thomas Knight, council approved the original development permit on March 5, 2020. Knight stated that since the issuance of the development permit, the proponents, Gaoshi Holdings Canada Ltd, have had to reorient the siting of the conference centre and the first hangar in order to allow for inclusion of a taxiway in accordance to the airport consultants currently developing the airport master plan.
Knight stated that the proposal represents the first phase of a four-phased development to construct a mixed-use aviation park located on the city’s airport leased lands immediately east of the existing airport terminal. Gaoshi Holdings secured a 99-year lease on the property for $600,000. Knight stated the first phase involves construction of a conference centre and a separate hangar, and that all subsequent phases of this project will require submission of new development permit applications.
For the conference centre, the applicant is proposing a two-storey, mixed-use building that will include a meeting hall, lounge and offices, according to Knight. For the hangar, the intent is to create an area to facilitate maintenance and storage of commuter planes up to 40 passengers, stated Knight.
Council gave unanimous approval to the amendment.
