City of Powell River Council is directing staff to take no further action for establishing what is known as a clearway for Runway 09 at Powell River Airport.
At the September 10 special council meeting, councillors heard from director of infrastructure Tor Birtig, who said the city had received a grant of up to $8 million for runway rehabilitation and the runway was open June 9.
“It was completed on schedule, meeting most of our objectives,” said Birtig. “The pavement was well beyond its useful life. We were able to come into compliance with federal regulations, reduce the slope to 1.5 per cent and add 146 feet in runway length, as well as safety areas on both ends of the runway.
“Our runway is considered a short runway and is limited geographically. While we were able to increase capacity and safety for Pacific Coastal Airlines, there are some runway geographical characteristics that impact our local carrier and others that utilize our airport.”
Birtig said a clearway is an area beyond the end of a runway that is to be free of obstacles and intended to provide an additional margin of safety during the initial climb for an aircraft after takeoff. He said clearways are not a requirement and many runways do not have clearways.
He said in March, the city confirmed with Pacific Coastal that no clearway would be available for Runway 09.
“Initially, we heard back from Pacific Coastal that they could see increases in payload capacity for their aircraft with the declared distances for design,” said Birtig. “In June, we were in fact told that the allowable takeoff weight for departures to the east would be reduced for some of their aircraft.
“Following completion of our project, we started looking at ways to address the challenge of the lack of a clearway to the east end.”
An inhibitor for the clearway at the east end of the runway is the extent of vegetation penetration, according to Birtig. He said using existing mapping, and assuming a tree height of 25 to 30 feet, the clearing of vegetation is going to be expensive.
“We’re looking at 25 to 35 acres of vegetation that would not only have to be cleared, but as well, we would have to have vegetation management to ensure the vegetation does not impact that slope,” said Birtig.
He said a lot of the trees in the area are poor quality and the city would not see a profit from clearing them. A number of the properties in the area are private properties and agreements would have to be reached to maintain that vegetation.
“What staff is recommending is that we take no further action to establish a clearway as the cost to establish this would be significant, and ongoing maintenance would add significant cost to operations for little benefit,” said Birtig.
Councillor Cindy Elliott asked if Powell River could have a strategy where there is a project on the shelf, so the city could apply for grants for a clearway.
Birtig said that could be done but it comes at a cost. He said it is estimated that the necessary studies could be in the realm of $50,000.
“At this point, we have not seen any grants that would cover this type of cost,” said Birtig.
Councillor Jim Palm asked if the information had been shared with Pacific Coastal. Birtig said it had, and the airline’s management was disappointed, but understood the recommendation.
A motion was made that council direct staff to take no further action as it relates to establishing a clearway for Runway 09 at Powell River Airport.
Elliott moved an amendment that $50,000 be included for 2024 should additional project grant funding become available for survey and design work for the airport clearway. The amendment failed, however.
Council then passed the original motion to take no further action on the clearway.
Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
