After years of debate and planning, Muskoka District council voted to discontinue work on the grass runway at the Muskoka Airport.
The grass runway or crosswind runway has been a cause of discussion for several years. In March 2022, District Council voted to close the grass runway, called 09-27, and begin development on a replacement known as 12-30. This is separate from the main runway at Muskoka Airport called 18-36. But after delays and large cost increases the Board of Directors for the Muskoka Airport recommended halting all work on runway 12-30. The board recommended focussing on commercial development at the airport rather than continued work on developing a grass runway.
Muskoka Airport Chief Executive Officer Len O’Connor spoke before council recommending halting work on the runway.
Since 2021 the Airport Board has recommended to council that the runway project should not go forward. The estimated costs for constructing the runway have increased to around $2 million dollars, around $1 million dollars over the approved budget for the project. O’Connor highlighted several other non-financial reasons for not moving forward with the project. These included a lack of safety implications of not having a grass runway, no incidents in which a grass runway was needed in the four years of operation at Muskoka Airport without 09-27. And that there are no regulations which say that the airport must have a grass runway. O’Connor stated that there is no business case for the 12-30 runway.
O’Connor also said that yearly maintenance on 12-30 if it were completed, would cost $20,000 to $30,000 a year. There is also evidence that the runway is not needed at Muskoka Airport. Between 2009 and 2018 09-27 accounted for 1.37% of activity at the airport. This equals roughly 176 “movements” a year, while the main runway sees around 15,000 “movements” a year according to O’Connor.
“What I’m asking is for the council to make a decision. For the board’s sake and for my sake, we need direction on this. The board’s recommendation is not to build 12-30,” O’Connor said.
A key element of the proposal debated by council was a motion in the report which stated the proposed location would be reserved for potential development of a grass runway in the future. This provision split council between two groups. The first was those that wanted to keep the space protected to ensure that if in the future a grass runway was required then there was space for it. And the second group which advocated opening the space up to allow further commercial development.
Councillor Peter Kelley spoke in favour of keeping this provision.
“To the extent that circumstances change. And suddenly 12-30 is deemed to be relevant again, or less expensive to construct. And I don’t know why we wouldn’t want to preserve that right?” Kelley said.
Councillor Guy Burry spoke in favour of opening the space to development to wean the airport off municipal subsidies.
“We have to put these guys on a plan that says you’re going to wean yourself from the subsidy by bringing in four or five or six different revenue streams. Which is what you need to do to have a municipal airport breakeven and get on with it,” Burry said.
Despite a long debate between members of council, most councilors expressed support for cutting off the development.
Don MacKay, Chair of the Muskoka District Airport stated that the reason 12-30 was still being discussed was due to support of council, not because the Muskoka Airport Board of Directors supports the runway development. Mackay went further to say that Council was ignoring the recommendations of the Airport board.
“It is not needed. Now, if you believe it’s needed, for safety reasons, then you’re taking counsel from the people you asked to give you the advice. Your board is very definite – crosswind runways are not required at Muskoka Airport. If they were required at Owen Sound, they’d be required at North Bay or Parry Sound. They would all require them. They’re not required for safety. A good pilot does not require a crosswind runway,” MacKay said.
Several councilors highlighted the support given by pilots for maintaining a grass runway at the Muskoka airport. Councillor Robert Lacroix stated that he understood from testimony how important the grass runway was for pilots. However, he did not believe the runway was on the table due to poor management of the runway by the Muskoka Airport authorities and rising costs.
After debating the intent of council and reasons for leaving the potential runway space protected, Council voted to remove the development protection provision.
This vote was followed by another amendment which directed staff to once again examine costs of environmental implications of repairing the grass runway on 09-27. This amendment also generated strong opinions from councilors and was voted down.
O’Connor stated that the environmental assessments alone would take well over a year to complete before the results could be brought back before District council. Councillor Scott Morrison spoke out against any efforts put towards development of 09-27. He also stated that the Muskoka Airport Board should be empowered to make these decisions.
“I’d like to see a motion where it’s these guys’ decision. We trust them. We hire them to be on this board. I don’t want to put a 12 month or 18 month delay on it. I’d like to move forward with the motion as that guy brought forward and not even entertain the idea of bringing back studies on 09-27,”
Following the second amendment vote council voted to approve the recommendation from the Airport Board which ends development of a grass runway at the Muskoka Airport.
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