By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Oliver is hoping to repave the aging runway at Oliver Airport, but only if it can secure a grant worth nearly $2 million.
Town administration has been tasked with getting together an application to submit to the BC Air Access Program (BCAAP) grant after Oliver Council recently decided this would be a worthwhile endeavour for safety and economic opportunities.
The grant program provides up to $2 million from the province per year, per facility, with grant funding potentially covering up to 90 per cent of eligible project costs.
Town staff’s recommendation was, if successful, to only go ahead with the repaving project if the town receives 90 per cent funding for the project.
According to an initial estimate, the estimated cost of the project would be $1,981,000. If the town receives 90 per cent from the province, which would be $1,782,900, that will still leave the town with $198,100 to cover.
These are initial numbers based on a “Class D” estimate, which is based on “little to no site information”.
To go ahead with the application a “Class B” estimate is required, which is prepared after completing site investigations and studies, and after defining major systems.
Town staff explained in the report they are confident that the cost estimates are overestimated based on “the actual costs of recent repairs, versus the estimated costs in the plan.”
Cracks in the runway are becoming increasingly difficult to repair without repaving the entire runway.
Town of Oliver photo
The grant funding is eligible to go towards projects that:
- Maintain safe and reliable facilities for aircraft, passengers and employees.
- Provide local, regional and provincial economic benefits.
- Ensure MedEvac and wildfire suppression services remain viable.
- Improve the environmental performance and/or reduce the climate footprint of air Facilities.
The Oliver Airport has multiple capital needs that have been recently identified in the 2024 Airport Master Plan, and one of the major projects is repaving the runway.
There are substantial cracks in the runway that have become wide enough to make it increasingly difficult to fix without repaving the entire runway.
In a report to council it was noted that the proposed project would last 15-20 years before major maintenance is required and would save the town continuous repair of the deteriorating runway at an estimated minimum annual cost of $10,000 – $15,000.
Councillor Aimee Grice noted in the discussion that “our airport has a huge opportunity to be an economic driver for our community . . . obviously the runway is a critical component of the airport so if we can get that amount of grant funding to replace it that is definitely a positive for us”.
This focus on the increased economic potential of the airport has been a continuous topic of conversation for the Town and its Airport Advisory Committee.
Recently the town made a resolution to send to the Southern Interior Local Government Association’s (SILGA) Annual General Meeting and Convention to ask the province to expand rigid rules around airport land use.
They are looking at potentially expanding the allowed land uses to include economic opportunities such as dorms, offices or even housing.
The condition of the runway was discussed in 2023 when the town decided to pass up the opportunity to apply for this BCAAP grant as they said they just didn’t have the money and were in the middle of creating the Airport Plan.
The airport also previously supported crews from BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) when they were in the region. However, “BCWS is now using other governments’ facilities due to the state of some of the Oliver Municipal Airport’s infrastructure”.
Stephanie Moore, Grants Coordinator for Oliver explained in her presentation that, this opportunity coincides with the Oliver Airport currently experiencing an uptick in economic activity.
She explained that the owners of Transwest Helicopters Ltd. have engaged the airport manager about securing another lease. This will allow the company to expand its helicopter manufacturing with plans to hire 10 additional employees this year.
A skydiving company will also be operating at the airport in April 2025 and plans to offer “flightseeing tours and charters”.
Four new hangars will also start construction in March 2025 and one of the new leases from 2024 has recently completed one of their two-bay hangars.
Town staff will return to council with the full detailed report and application before the deadline for the grant application on March 21, 2025.
