The Airport Advisory Committee held their second meeting Friday.
The committee touched on hopes for airport improvement, and also outlined some of the major concerns affecting the efficiency and usability of the airport.
One of the top priorities for the committee in advising council on areas in need of funding and revamping is the runway itself, which has suffered extensive cracking, breakdowns, and the development of sinks and swells.
This is not an entirely new issue: back in the 1990s, Transport Canada had closed 1,200 feet of the airport runway, citing its poor condition. At that time, the city installed drainage in an attempt to repair the issues that have since returned.
Charlie Henderson, Superintendent of Public Works, commented on the crack sealing that needed to be addressed, as well as potential upgrades to the apron, the section of the runway where aircraft are parked, loaded or unloaded, boarded and refuelled.
Henderson said a large part of the budget goes to snow removal and sweeping, and that crack sealing was identified as a weakness in the budget.
“The roads crack sealing unit that we use is at the end of its lifespan, so we’ll be purchasing a new one: and then we’ve added materials and supplies to that budget, so we can complete that crack sealing.
“We know there are issues but there needs to be an overall plan, I think, from our standpoint on maintenance. We need to know where this committee wants to take the airport and that type of direction.
Henderson added that his department did remove an overweight program for the apron, that was valued at around $340,000, due to other large infrastructure projects that needed to be made a priority, like flood mitigation and flood restoration.
“So unfortunately, that was removed, but it’s not forgotten about. We have also identified $800,000 worth of overlay that needs to be completed here. There’s less than just one touchdown on an annual average, per day, so it’s not a very highly-used airport, so justifying that huge paving dollar is tough.”
Over the course of the meeting the committee members tabled motions which would be passed along to the city, including recommending to council that it amend the Official Community Plan to allow runway access to properties on the west side.
All motions, which were passed unanimously, are aimed at simplifying development and making it easier for the city to decide where to allocate time and funds.
Other suggested upgrades and improvements were the possible installation of a weather station, repair and replacement of fencing, as well as the installation of radio-to-computer equipment and a new logbook to track flight movement, which is currently mostly unrecorded.
“I was looking, and in 1981 we hit 6000,” said Sean Smith, Director of Corporate Services.
“We’re down to 300 recorded ones now. I’m presuming we may have slowed down a little bit, but we’re also not recording a whole lot. So, some recommendations as to what we can do to better track what’s coming in and out so that when we go for grant funding, we don’t look like we have less than one a day,” Smith told the committee, as much of the grant funding is dependent upon traffic numbers.
Another top priority the committee identified was lighting on the runway. Geoff Scholtens, committee member, believes this is something the city should address if they want to attract more aircraft and related businesses.
“One of the things I’ve learned from Langley’s development is when they put lights on that runway they’ve basically said to the community and aviation industry, we’re open for business. Without lights on a runway, it’s like a shop with its lights off. You just don’t go in.”
