-Airport industrial park could mean roughly 70 jobs for community-
OSOYOOS TIMES-March 19, 2008-
By Chad IngramrnOsoyoos Times
Plans for an industrial park at the Osoyoos Airport are officially off the ground.
On March 11 the Town of Osoyoos signed a deal with the province worth $1.2 million that will see seven industrial properties developed on the Hwy. 3 property. Through the cost-sharing agreement, the town will contribute nearly $700,000 to the project while the provincial government, through the Integrated Lands Management Bureau (ILMB), will chip in more than $500,000.
This is something that has been talked about since 1979, said Destination Osoyoos Executive Director Glenn Mandziuk at a small reception at Osoyoos's B.C. Visitor Centre.
Mandziuk said he'd been working on arranging the deal since 2005.
Businesses expected to set up shop at the industrial park include aviation-sector firms, value-added wood producers and agricultural producers, Mandziuk said. While the spaces have not yet been sold, he said there are a number of interested parties; more businesses than there are available spaces, in fact.
The industrial properties will range in size from 0.4 hectares to 0.6 hectares and are planned for the strip of land between the highway and the runway. Infrastructure is to include a proper intersection at Hwy. 3, paved roads, water and sewer services as well as telephone and high speed cable access.
What's different about this project is that the spaces are being sold, instead of leased like at a lot of other airports, Mandziuk said.
We would like to thank the town for thinking outside of the box, said Bob Brodie of the ILMB. While Brodie said he expected the town and the province to at least break even on the sale of the airport properties, he stressed that profit is not the intent of the project.
It's about creating jobs, he said.
Mandziuk said he expected at least 70 jobs to be created by the addition of the industrial park and said some security personnel would likely also be required. He said his goal for the future is to see hangar and terminal buildings on the site, complete with chartered flights to cities such as Vancouver.
That will be part of our next phase, Mandziuk said.
For now, Brodie said there is still some paperwork to be cleared up and that an environmental impact assessment must be performed. He said construction should begin this year.
Mandziuk said he expected businesses to be moved into the park by early next spring.
Both extended their thanks to the Osoyoos Indian Band for its letter of support for the project.
Without their support this wouldn't have been passed, Mandziuk said.
