A consulting firm presented to St. Stephen Council that operating the Giddens Memorial Airport as status quo is no longer a viable scenario.
Ben Crooks, a senior planner with aviation consulting firm HM Aero based in Ottawa, presented to the council on Wednesday.
“The airport based on our assessment and based on available materials has positive value to the community, economic value, social value, but it’s modest in scale,” he said.
The Municipal District of St. Stephen’s municipal plan indicates three options for the airport’s future, including selling it to a private operator, gifting it to another public entity, and following consultation recommendations on a cost-benefit analysis of continued municipal ownership with a long-term plan.
“There has been limited investment in the airport for decades,” Crooke said. “The infrastructure that is out there is nearing the end of its useful life. Some we would classify as being beyond the end of its useful life.”
The airport is located about a kilometre away from the downtown. It is a 3,000-by-75 foot lighted runway. It is used consistently by provincial and federal law enforcement and the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).
Local aviation tourism operator Flying 2 C Helicopter Tours also takes flights out of the airport.
“St. Stephen is not alone in that being the dynamic for [its] smaller community airport,” Crooks said. “Particularly, municipalities have so many different priorities like their time, financial resources and staff capacity.”
Crooks told the council the assets will continue to degrade over time, which will lead to health and safety implications.
He said even with private aviation use, tourism-based aviation and the use by first responders — the net gain is not enough to support the airport.
But it is in a good position to support the RCMP and the CBSA in its efforts on border sovereignty, with the Canadian federal government investing $1.3 billion to bolster security at the border and strengthen the immigration system. It includes $667.5M for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, $355.4M for the Canada Border Services Agency.
He said it may also become important in wildfire fighting efforts and forestry protection.
Crooks said a small fraction — about 200 respondents to a survey — said the airport is important or very important.
He said the next step is developing short-term and long-term goals, like bringing jet fuel services to the airport.
“That’s very much a critical path item for the majority of [sic] users,” he said.
The other main recommendation was to upgrade the airport terminal. Crooks said this doesn’t have to be something complicated, but perhaps prefabricated and purpose-built.
“Just a basic, clean building, fit-for-purpose for visitor access and crew support,” he said, noting it would also improve airport security so unsafe access is prevented to the greatest degree possible.
He said these would hopefully be completed by 2029-2030. Crooks explained the runway is beyond a simple pavement overlay.
“Those assets are looking for total replacement or reconstruction based on our preliminary assessment,” he told the council. “In terms of rehabilitation of the existing assets that are out there today, we’re looking at approximately $11 million in capital investment.”
There was an overall discussion of extending the runway to 5000 feet to allow for more aircraft to make use of the airport — especially those who are using Saint John and Fredericton airports, both of which are about 133 kilometres away.
He told the council that process would involve extending roads, acquiring private property, which would tie the municipality to bringing the runway into a rehabilitated state right away — as opposed to later on when there is more financial support.
Crooks said that capital investment has been placed on the back end of the master plan to allow the town time to prepare for those capital costs — including support from the other levels of government.
He said HM Aero stopped short of recommending a formal funding and governance model, but that the firm sees a need for inter-municipal funding and regional support.
