The District of Sechelt will be receiving $1 million to resurface and extend the runway at the municipally owned airport.
Sechelt was one of 16 regional airports to get funding in the latest round of B.C. Air Access Program (BCAAP) grants.
“Our local community airports rely on funding to complete crucial safety and infrastructure upgrades,” Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Claire Trevena said in the release announcing the grants.
“We’re committed to these regional grants to make travel better for people throughout our province.”
An airport expansion plan was drafted in 2013, and creating an airport development strategy and identifying grant opportunities to support it was one of the points in Sechelt council’s recently approved strategic plan.
One of the consultant reports for the plan concluded that “the Sunshine Coast Regional Airport is in need of a significant upgrade and renovation with its current airstrip ill-suited for commercial operation due to both its limited length and the state of repair.”
Mayor Darnelda Siegers also talked about airport expansion at a recent Chamber of Commerce breakfast event marking her first six months in office.
She gave Powell River and Tofino as examples of communities benefitting from grant-funded airport expansions. “It’s had a huge impact on their communities. We have a lot of people here and more people moving here who work off-Coast. They need a secure way to get out. Floatplanes are great, but they’re not something you can use if you don’t work in the Vancouver area.”
The BCAAP is a cost-shared program, which means Sechelt will also have to come up with some of the project funding.
A February report to council on the grant application put the cost at $1.39 million, and the district was planning to apply to the Island Coastal Economic Trust for the other 25 per cent of the budget.
