Castlegar Council Approves Loan for Airport Reliability Project

Move over Cancelgar, the City of Castlegar could be closer to fixing their airport dilemmas than ever before.

Monday, December 6^th, saw City Council pass first three readings for a Required Navigational Performance Project loan authorization that would enable aircrafts to determine eligibility to land lower into the valley and closer to the West Kootenay Regional Airport using GPS. Almost every member of Council had congratulations to share to past and present staff and elected officials that helped get to this milestone:

“….This has been a number one priority for council since I’ve sat here in 2011, so it’s great that we can finally see the sky and we’re almost there and it’s very exciting and thank-you to staff for being the supporters and drivers in this….” says Councillor Sue-Heatton Sherstobitoff.

“It sounds like for decades it’s been said there isn’t a solution so I appreciate, I know how many hours and how many meetings and how much time it has taken to bring that fourth, and I also just want to take a minute and say thank-you to councils before us who continued to work on it….” says Councillor Maria McFaddin.

“For sure this was being discussed at least half way into my beginning terms, but at that point no one really knew how they were supposed to get there, to get to the point that we’re at now. So councils after me certainly came up with the proper approach….” adds Mayor Kirk Duff.

The City hopes to receive project approval in 2022 with airlines able to utilize the RNP system in 2023. The City will have to pay off an interest-free $1 million loan over 25 years after a two-year wait.