Dear Editor:
This letter is sent to Town of Osoyoos councillor C. J. Rhodes and other members of town council.
Like many residents of Osoyoos, we read with great interest the tough fiscal and economic decisions facing council over the coming months.
None of those decisions will be more crucial than that of the future of the Osoyoos Airport and surrounding lands.
While I agree we are in desperate need of acquiring additional industrial land to attract new business and broaden our tax base, I hope for the future prosperity of Osoyoos that council do not make quick decisions for short term and unknown gains.
Osoyoos will never be an industrial powerhouse attracting large manufacturing and better paying jobs. Osoyoos is, and always be, a tourist and retirement town and we need to improve infrastructure, medical facilities and low cost retirement homes that will better support current and future growth.
Marketing our unique town as one of the best places to visit and live across Canada and the United States needs to increase to attract more tourist dollars from further afield.
Having relocated myself from Ontario a few years ago, we had never heard of Osoyoos until driving through by chance.
To better support future growth and attract more tourist dollars, an airport can be crucial and a luxury that many small towns do not have.
As the Osoyoos Airport development committee have told us, once this airport is gone and lands re-zoned, its gone forever.
People say investment in airport expansion is expensive and not profitable.
Most would agree and experiences taken from Penticton and Oliver support the fact that small domestic airports cannot be run economically and successfully without a dedicated team of volunteer workers and private individual investment.
The numbers banded around in the range of $1.5M to build airport facilities and extend the current runway at the Osoyoos Airport is not insurmountable and can be raised from private investment.
All we can ask of council is to respect the Osoyoos airport development committee’s ambition and allow them time to prepare and present their vision.
Council must seriously weigh the pros and cons before killing a key asset that could play a large part in the future prosperity of our great town.
Nick Adams
Osoyoos, B.C.
