In many small towns across Canada, any announcement that town leaders were considering closing down the municipal airport would be cause for great concern.
In some communities, it would be devastating to shut down the only air travel hub in that community.
However, here in Osoyoos, the fact town council, senior administration and the town’s economic development committee have issued a statement that they are looking to close down Osoyoos Airport should not be surprising or of any great concern to local residents.
The reality is Osoyoos Airport is used by only a handful of people who are fortunate enough to own small aircraft.
Another reality is the average resident in this community simply would not support spending millions of dollars to expand the current airport when so few people use the facility.
While the current and previous town councils have considered airport expansion, the fact is no one in this community could support spending $4 or $5 million to purchase land to expand the runway and facility.
Mayor elect Sue McKortoff commented Monday that spending millions of dollars to expand an airport that is used by so few people simply doesn’t make sense.
We agree.
The town issued a press release Monday notifying the pubic and media that council is exploring a more practical use for the current airport facility.
Council determined in early November that existing airport lands could better be used for industrial expansion.
This sounds like a very progressive idea considering the town’s current industrial park is running out of space.
Mayor Stu Wells confirmed council had talked about possible airport expansion to make the facility more viable, but could not get past the fact it could cost in excess of $4 million to undergo such an expansion.
When you consider there’s another small airport in Oliver, a mid-size airport in Penticton and international airport in Kelowna, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend that kind of money to expand Osoyoos Airport.
Using the land to expand the town’s industrial base makes much more sense and we commend community leaders for pursuing this concept.
While Osoyoos will remain a tourism-based community thanks to our gorgeous spring, summer and fall weather and magnificent scenery, the time has come to create a more diverse and long-term economic development strategy.
There are many people we believe would jump at the opportunity to set up and operate a new business from an expanded industrial park at the current airport site.
The fact the town currently has only two industrial lots available for sale and development clearly shows our community has very limited land base options and we must make the best use of land that is available in the community.
Future growth and development will require additional industrial lands and there would be plenty of new space if our airport closes and is turned into a modern industrial park, right across the highway from our current industrial park.
None of this will happen overnight and there will have to be public consultation before any final decision is made to close the Osoyoos Airport.
However, when you look at long-term economic development and the need to bring new jobs to Osoyoos, it would be hard to argue closing down the airport and developing more industry is the right way to go.
We wish McKortoff and the newly-elected council all the best in pursuing this goal.
