City council clears Peterborough Airport expansion master plan for takeoff
Posted By BRENDAN WEDLEY/Examiner Municipal Writer
Posted 10 months ago
City council gave a nod to a long-term plan last night to guide growth at the Peterborough Municipal Airport and possibly spend almost $45 million for upgrades at the facility over the next 20 years.
Council, sitting as planning committee, endorsed using the draft airport master plan as a guide for early construction phases of the $28.6-million upgrade that's underway.
Staff plan to give airport tenants and other affected parties an opportunity to review the document and comment before they bring it back to council for approval early next year.
LPS Aviation Inc., the company the city hired to prepare the plan, gave an overview of the document at last night's meeting.
An extension and reinforcement of the runway to allow the airport to handle larger aircraft will help attract investment at the aviation industrial park the city is fostering at the airport, LPS airport planner Adam Martin said.
"It opens up the Peterborough Airport to several markets that they aren't able to tap into with the runway length they have today," he said.
In addition to extending the runway by 610 metres to 2,134 metres, the city would build more space for aviation-related businesses, build a new airport terminal and expand the apron — the area where planes park.
A business case done by LPS found the airport supports about 250 full-time jobs and generates $25 million in GDP and, with some upgrades, the facility could support 420 full-time jobs and generate $41 million in GDP, Martin said.
The federal and provincial governments announced on Oct. 16 that they would each contribute $7 million towards the runway extension and other projects at the airport.
The city's portion of the cost will be $14.6 million. The portion of the project funded by the federal and provincial governments will be completed by March 2011 to satisfy Infrastructure Stimulus Fund requirements.
The city will have to deal with the Otonabee River floodplain, the Cavan Creek floodplain, wetlands on the airport property, servicing and utilities limitations at the site and the proximity of Airport Rd., which would have to be diverted or closed to make space for the runway extension.
Coun. Jack Doris asked the consultants how the aircraft noise would affect residents who live near the airport.
"They stopped flying aircraft into Oshawa at certain times of the night and rerouted them to Peterborough," he said, explaining how noise complaints disrupted GM flights. "We have to know that this isn't going to happen here, that we can run this airport, that we can run it 24 hours a day, seven days a week without having residential complaints."
The city would maintain its current noise forecasts even with the expansion and projected increase in activity because aircrafts have become quieter with new technology, Martin said.
"We don't foresee it to be a major problem," he said.
County public works director Chris Bradley told council the county will need to consult the public about the possible realignment or closure of Airport Rd.
He added the county wants assurances that the airport expansion won't interfere with the potential expansion of the nearby county-city landfill in the future and it would like a review of the noise forecasts for the airport.
bwedley@peterboroughexaminer.com
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