EDMONTON- On Wednesday afternoon, during the current city council’s final meeting, a motion was passed on the closure date for the last runway at the City Centre Airport.
The date of November 30 was passed by council.
“I think we’ll develop a bunch of residential in there. We’ve got a lot of builders interested, so I think if we get the servicing done early enough and the plans are going very well, we should have houses in there I would hope, under construction, being sold, a year from now,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel.
On September 13, City Administration had recommended all aviation activity at the airport end on November 30.
“We’ve battled hard, but I guess it’s coming to an end,” said Ed Schlemko, Operations Manager of Airco Aircraft Charters.
Schlemko says he’s not surprised, as the decision has been a long time coming. The City voted to close the airport in 2009. But after fighting to keep it open, Schlemko says receiving notice that tenants will have to vacate by November 15 is bittersweet.
“We’ve got some interim facilities lined up. But there are some people here at the airport who don’t have facilities lined up and there’s some people who are going to go out of business.”
“This has been a long time coming. It’s been no surprise. And this is just simply the final procedural point where we can actually officially put a closure date to it,” said Ward 2 City Councillor Kim Krushell.
Now that the November 30 date has been approved, work to deconstruct the current infrastructure will begin.
“One of the big things that we have to do is actually remove the infrastructure that made that site an airport. So the runways, the taxiways… parking and some of the buildings,” said Mark Hall, executive director of the Blatchford Redevelopment.
As part of the process, the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority (ERAA) will notify airport users and pilots by issuing Notices to Airmen through NAV CANADA. On December 1, 2013 ERAA will place barricades on the remaining runway 12/30 to prevent access to the runway, and the runway will be clearly marked to signal to pilots that it is closed.
Hall hopes construction on stage one of the new residential development planned for the site could begin as early as May 2014.
“It’s probably a two-year window, two-year process to get the land developed and then to engage builders and sell into the residential market. So we’re thinking 2016, maybe 2017 to actually have people living there,” he explained.
Ultimately, the timeline of the staging of the development will be up to the new council. Although she won’t be on that council, Krushell says she’s excited for the future.
“Not many cities get to redevelop 600 acres four kilometres from their downtown,” she said. “By redeveloping it, not only do we proceed with a vision for building the largest green build in Canada and the largest infill project, but we also get to benefit from all the tax dollars that that site will generate.”
With a closure date approaching, Schlemko says it’s hard not to get emotional about the situation.
“We really thought that if it went to a plebiscite, there would be closure. Either the airport would remain open or it would be closed, but the people had decided.”
Tenants at the City Centre Airport will be holding a going away party of sorts, planned for the beginning of October.
“We’re kind of a community here and we’re all going to be split up. Who knows where we’ll all end up in a year or two,” Schlemko said.
A builder for the new development at the airport has not yet been chosen.
With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News.
Comments