New master plan for airport proposed
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/02/2024 (804 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A proposed 20-year master plan for Brandon Municipal Airport would see almost $27 million in capital improvements made to the site from 2024 to 2043.
The master plan is being presented at tonight’s Brandon City Council meeting, though city administration is requesting that debate on whether to accept it be delayed until the March 4 council meeting so that councillors have time to study it.
According to an agenda document, which contains a copy of the proposed master plan, the city’s previous master plan for the airport expired in 2004.
The new plan says the airport is currently constrained when it comes to both water and wastewater services for commercial and firefighting purposes.
The current water mains were installed in 1941 when the federal government first built an airport as part of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan to train pilots to serve in the Second World War. The grounds of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum and its historic hangar on the airport site are what is left of that original development.
The City of Brandon has operated the airport since 1999, when Transport Canada handed over ownership.
When it comes to accommodating air traffic, the apron of the runway is considered too small and creates a bottleneck for both arriving and departing planes. The new master plan would see the apron expanded in a two-phase project, along with the development of a new taxiway to the south.
The plan would see the airport develop more of its land to the east of the airfield for commercial purposes, so that things like an aerospace campus, commercial hangars and cargo facilities can be built.
“The constraints to accommodating future development are the need for more municipal services to support the expansion of aviation-related commercial development, and land lease terms that may need to be more conducive to attracting new businesses,” the plan states.
“The proximity of Winnipeg International Airport and Southport Airport may also be a deterrent in attracting new businesses.”
The most expensive item in the 20-year capital plan is the rehabilitation of the main runway in 2024, at a cost of $10.75 million. However, $10.5 million of that is being paid for through grants from the federal government.
The second-most expensive item is improving water and wastewater service, at an estimated cost of $7.9 million. Funding for that is projected to come from the city’s financial reserves.
The report acknowledges that because there is no longer any regular air service between Brandon and Winnipeg, “significant leakage” of customers to Winnipeg International Airport takes place.
There is also leakage to Minot, N.D., where travellers can get low-cost flights to destinations like Las Vegas and Phoenix.
One of the major weaknesses when it comes to developing in and around the airport is said to be that private landowners are “banking” their property and have no clear priority to develop it.
Among the challenges that need to be overcome to improve the airport are city council’s willingness to invest in it, establishing an air passenger link to the east like Toronto, showing that the airport can be profitable, a need to improve marketing efforts, previous failed attempts to introduce new air services and a need to improve nearby drainage infrastructure.
South of the airport, Waywayseecappo First Nation owns land on which it has built a gas station. The master plan says the development plan for the rest of that land is currently unknown.
Beyond needing to convince city council to invest in the airport, the plan states that council’s direction to focus infrastructure spending on south Brandon is another challenge.
Though it is not listed in the capital plan, the master plan recommends that the city and the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum work together to undertake permanent repairs to structural issues identified by engineers at the museum’s hangar, since the hangar is owned by the city.
While the old Brandon & Area Planning District had a development plan for the area that is still being used, the master plan says a new one is being developed since the planning district was dissolved in 2020.
A copy of the proposed master plan can be found at tinyurl.com/3cjap6sn.
» cslark@brandonsun.com
» X: @ColinSlark