City authorizing senior staff to ‘negotiate and execute’ any surplus land deals at Oshawa Airport

There’s never a dull moment in the air or on the ground when it comes to the Oshawa Executive Airport.

Just weeks after the City of Oshawa took a big step towards “meaningful noise mitigation measures” with a deal to directly address persistent community concerns regarding flight training aircraft noise and activity, staff at the city have been authorized the CAO and his senior staff to “negotiate and execute agreements” for the sale of surplus airport lands.

The motion, approved at the Safety and Facilities Committee this week, doesn’t mean there is any deal in place to sell off the lands at the airport, which opened in 1941 as a flight training school for Second World War pilots and was taken over by the city in 1947.

The city is committed to keeping it potentially operational until 2047 but is also committed to looking at any opportunity to unload any surplus lands for development, and with the summer recess approaching and election campaign now ramping up, the city thought it prudent to have staff authorized to “explore any investment opportunities” while councillors are preoccupied with other matters.

Councillor Bradley Marks asked about the kind of interest staff had been receiving about the lands but was reminded by committee chair Brian Nicholson that “specific” inquiries would have to be discussed in-camera.

“Staff will do everything in their power to make the airport as efficient and profitable as possible,” Nicholson said. “We wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity while council is busy.”

After further questions about the nature of any potential deals from Councillor Rosemary McConkey committee did indeed go in-camera for the discussion.

Senior staff will be authorized, pending full council approval, to negotiate any agreements on the sale of surplus airport lands for a period of six months. As well, any roads or services required to “activate” surplus properties will be funded from the Airport Development Reserve.

Currently, a 30-acres plot of city-owned lands known as the East Field has been declared surplus to municipal requirements.

The city was embroiled in a long-running and oft-delayed lawsuit with the Canadian Flight Academy over the number of training flights which was only settled two years ago and deals with annual complaints from nearby homeowners (despite the airport being here for nearly 80 years), with complaints rising from about 50 per year in the early part of this century to more than 300 during the height of the pandemic.

In 1997, the City of Oshawa signed a 50-year Operating and Options Agreement with the federal government to operate the airport until 2047 and has emphatically declared that the commitment to keep the airport open beyond its current operational agreement time frame date NOT be extended.

The city renewed its management contract with Total Aviation & Airport Solutions earlier this year until 2031 but the future is hazy after that.