Owen Sound city hall. (photo by Claire McCormack)
Owen Sound council has declared the Billy Bishop Regional Airport surplus, paving the way for the city to put it up for sale.
Council approved a staff recommendation in a 7-2 recorded vote at its meeting Monday night to direct staff to bring forward a by-law to declare the city-owned airport lands located on Highway 26 in Meaford surplus in accordance with the disposition of land by-law.
Councillors Carol Merton and Marion Koepke voted against the recommendation.
The city plans to pursue a direct sale or real estate listing to dispose of the airport. The preference is to sell to a buyer who intends to continue to operate it as an airport.
All operations at the airport will continue while the city attempts to sell it.
“The process of declaring the airport surplus is not intended to ‘close’ the airport,” City manager Tim Simmonds explains. “The current process to declare the land as surplus gives the city the ability to sell the airport with the goal to have the airport sold to a qualified buyer who demonstrates that they have experience with airport operations and the ability to continue operating the facility as a registered aerodrome.”
However, there is a date the airport would close if the city does not find a buyer. Among the recommendations council approved in July concerning the Billy Bishop Regional Airport is to cease operations on Dec. 31, 2022 if no sale has been completed by then.
Simmonds’ report to council on Monday says staff have responded to inquiries from prospective purchasers of the airport already.
The Owen Sound Billy Bishop Airport was built in 1991 and has operated as a municipal asset since 1993. It is located along Highway 26, east of Owen Sound, in the Municipality of Meaford.
Simmonds’ report says the city received 10 comments during the public notice period from Sept. 3-17, as well as 18 comments that came in prior to the formal process that were included in the city’s consultation on the potential airport surplus declaration.
The city manager’s report says 27 of those comments cited various reasons to “keep the airport open” while one supported the sale of it. Simmonds says healthcare access, regional importance, economic development/tourism and educational opportunities are four themes that emerged.
“We have previously addressed the themes made by those that submitted those comments,” Simmonds explains. “As these same themes have been raised by various groups over the past 10-12 months.”
No information was provided about how many of those who submitted comments are residents of Owen Sound, the tax base who subsidizes airport.
A statement distributed by the city Monday night says “it is council’s intent that this disposition of property will not disrupt the current operation of the airport including Ornge Air Ambulance and other healthcare and commercial operations.”
The president and CEO of Ornge Dr. Homer Tien sent a letter to the city during the public comment period, providing statistics about the air ambulance organization’s use of Billy Bishop Regional Airport in recent years. Tien says since 2018, Ornge aircraft landed at the airport 237 times. The number of times Ornge uses the airport annually has been quite consistent in recent years, landing at it 63 times in 2018, 66 times in 2019, 64 times in 2020 and 44 times to date in 2021.
Since 2018, there have been 46 Ornge aircraft flights to Billy Bishop Airport for patients who required emergent care, 16 related to organ retrievals or transport, six patients who required urgent care and 13 patients who needed non-urgent care, such as repatriation back to their home community.
The remaining flights were operational requests relating to patient transport requests.
“Airports also provide a suitable alternative landing site for our helicopters in situations where the helipad may be out of service,” Tien says in a correspondence. “This could be related to weather, maintenance and other factors.”
Coun. John Tamming spoke to the concerns about healthcare access as it relates to the airport at Monday’s meeting: “I would suggest to the community that it’s not the job, it’s not the core function of this city to make sure that sick people are (flown) anywhere.”
Simmonds told councillors on Monday the operating subsidy for the airport will rise to over $250,000 in 2021, not including any repair, replace or capital costs.
In a previous report to council about the airport, city staff projected capital repair and replacement costs to exceed $1.5-million in the next two to five years.
Merton, who voted against the airport lands surplus declaration, downplayed the significance of the operating deficit of the Billy Bishop Regional Airport.
“In comparison for the operating costs for other city assets and services provided, this is a small amount,” Merton says. “Not included in the report is the cost to the city and the taxpayer, even up to this point in time. Nor does the report advise us of any anticipated potential future costs, both short- and long-term to extricate the city from the airport and any obligations in relation to the airport.”
“We have not seen the overall financial picture to this date,” Merton continues. “Because there are some unknowns yet.”
Simmonds says city staff have met with various levels of government over the past year to seek financial assistance for the airport on an ongoing or one-time basis, and also sought federal grants.
“Unfortunately, neither of those are available,” the city manager says.
Merton also pointed to the recent decision by Georgian Bluffs to declare the Wiarton Keppel International Airport surplus and list it for sale, saying the situation concerning Owen Sound’s airport decision continues to change.
“We have accepted as principle if this report is approved… that by declaring the airport lands surplus and putting it up for sale that the needs of the public will continue to be met,” Merton says. “In truth, there is no guarantee that once the ink is dry on any potential sale document that this goal will be achieved.”