City of Powell River officials have asked for assistance in finalizing plans for a major rehabilitation project at the airport.
City council met with West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP John Weston on January 24 and the number one item of discussion was the $1.6 million project to improve the apron and main taxiway in front of the airport terminal. Weston announced the funding from the federal government’s Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP) last August in Powell River. The project includes removing all the existing pavement and gravel and digging one-half metre down to improve drainage.
Since then, city staff have been working on the design of the project and hired a consultant, Genivar Inc. The company delivered preliminary drawings in December.
The plan included a strategy to complete the work and maintain service by dividing the project into four phases. However, the plan included a 13-day closure of the apron. “We knew this wasn’t going to be acceptable,” said Sean Cator, the city’s transportation coordinator. “Since then we have worked out a plan that includes a closure for one or two days at the maximum.”
However, that solution adds costs to the project. A simple solution would be to have commercial aircraft, including Pacific Coastal Airlines’ planes, use the second taxiway and part of the apron in front of Oceanview Helicopters and the Westview Flying Club. The taxiway would have to be upgraded first to enable commercial aircraft use.
City staff would like to use part of the money from the ACAP grant for that work, but the program only funds improvements that impact commercial carriers. Staff have discussed the issue with Transport Canada officials, Cator said, and pointed out that the project would be much more expensive if the apron in front of the airport terminal has to remain in use during construction. “They said their hands were tied and they didn’t have any flexibility with it,” Cator said.
Staff then had a conversation with Mayor Dave Formosa and councillors Debbie Dee and Chris McNaughton to discuss whether the city could fund the upgrade to the other part of the apron and second runway, estimated to cost around $80,000. “We do have money in the reserve to do that, but we feel this is attributable to the project,” said Cator. “It is necessary to keep this airport functioning.”
There are safety considerations if the airport is shut down, Cator added, because air ambulances would not be able to land. Staff believe there are cost savings and there would be enough money in the grant to cover the additional work. “We’re not asking for additional money,” he said. “We’re saying we want to add this into the scope of the project and we feel it will cost no more.”
Formosa said he and councillors stressed to Weston the safety concerns if the airport had to be closed. “If we have to shut down for all these days, 80 per cent of our evacuations are fixed winged,” he said. “We should have a backup runway. We’re coming up with letters of support from the community to show this is a safety issue.”
Weston said he would forward the city’s concerns to the appropriate officials.
