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Airport dream not taking off

Council again defeats funding request to investigate airport feasibility study in close vote

It was a case of déjà vu on Monday night as council once again quashed plans to investigate the possibility of a Whistler airport for the second time in three months.

This time instead of municipal staff asking council to authorize $20,000 for an airport feasibility study the request came from Councillor Nick Davies on behalf of the Whistler 2020 economic task force.

That task force is made up of a number of community stakeholders who have identified an airport as the number one priority for the resort’s economy.

Davies was attempting to fast track that priority at their request.

"We need to do something about the state of the economy if we can," said Davies, in his pitch to get council to endorse spending the money.

He asked council to approve $20,000 to investigate the feasibility of an airport in the Brandywine area on the resort’s southern boundary.

But, just as they did three months ago when staff came forward with the same request, council shot down the appeal for funds.

Only Mayor Hugh O’Reilly and Councillor Gordon McKeever stood behind Davies.

"This seems to be a knee-jerk reaction," said Councillor Ken Melamed.

He suggested a tongue in cheek amendment to Davies’ request that council approve $20,000 for the top priorities in each of the 16 Whistler 2020 task forces. Those include the resident housing task force, the resident affordability task force and the transportation task force.

There are more than 150 recommendations coming from all the task forces that have to be budgeted for added Melamed.

The $20,000 feasibility study would have determined if a Whistler airport is even technically viable. The Brandywine site can only work if the airport had RNP (required navigational procedure) technology. It is not clear whether that technology would work in Brandywine – an outstanding question the study would have answered once and for all.

Instead of $20,000 Melamed suggested they approve a $2,000 community survey which would determine how many people in the community even want an airport.

"People are not going to want to live in the path of 737’s," he said.

That’s a question the Pemberton community still needs to ask itself too.

The Village of Pemberton is moving along with plans for their airport. It still remains to be seen if the airport will stay a local airport or become a regional facility.

After a meeting this week, Pemberton council is now working to collect weather data and grant money too.

They are hoping to have a strategic plan finished by early September.

"I don’t think we can go any faster than what we’re doing," said Pemberton Mayor Elinor Warner.

"Whistler has to go forth in the direction they feel is necessary for their community as Pemberton has to."

For some community stakeholders it isn’t going fast enough, particularly as an airport undoubtedly would kick-start the resort’s flattening economy.

"It would be a huge positive economic benefit for the community," said Dave Brownlie, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Whistler-Blackcomb.

"I think there’s opportunities (at municipal hall) to find that kind of money for something that is so critical."

Brownlie said before doing community surveys to see if Whistler wants an airport, or surveys to determine the environmental ramifications of an airport, first we must find out if it is even technically possible to build an airport here.

Tourism Whistler President Barrett Fisher was not available for comment this week but in a previous interview with Pique Newsmagazine she said:

"Regarding the proposed opportunity of building an airport in Whistler, our Board of Directors has expressed interest in further investigating this opportunity, as direct air access into Whistler, combined with an improved Sea to Sky Highway, would very much improve overall access and transportation options for both our leisure and meetings guests.

"There would still need to be a great deal of research and analysis conducted, however, before any decision could be made as to whether a Whistler airport is even feasible. Tourism Whistler will work closely with our partners, the RMOW and Whistler-Blackcomb, as we move forward; and we are prepared to assist in collecting research, and to participate financially into a technical review of airport feasibility within Whistler."

For the other councillors who voted against the request for $20,000, their decision was based in part on the process by which the request came to them.

Councillor Caroline Lamont said she would have preferred the request come from staff with a full report, rather than from a fellow councillor at 11 p.m. after a long council meeting.

It simply was not enough time for her to think it through, she said.

Councillor Kristi Wells and Marianne Wade agreed.

Wells added the request for funding this Whistler 2020 priority highlights the need for council to get more aggressive in its push for long-promised financial tools from the provincial government, now that the provincial election is over.

The money from those financial tools, promised as part of Olympic negotiations, could support the more than 150 recommendations coming from the Whistler 2020 task forces.

Davies, who is a recreational pilot, has long-championed the cause of a regional airport especially after seeing the Community Monitoring Report earlier this year which, in no uncertain terms, highlighted the resort’s economy flattening in recent years.