Have your say on the future of Vernon’s airport

VERNON – Vernon residents are invited to have a say on the future of the local airport.

The city is reviewing plans for the airport over the next 20 years and wants to hear from residents and businesses at an upcoming open house Sept. 17.

It’s all part of a project to develop a new airport master plan, and communications coordinator Tanya Laing Gahr says in a media release there are four main alternatives being proposed which include airfield enhancements within the current airport site — hangars, helipad, terminal upgrade, apron and taxiway — runway extension to 1,220 metres towards Okanagan Lake and optional eastward expansion of the airport.

“A new airport master plan is necessary for the city as significant changes have occurred in the aviation industry and within Vernon over the last several years. Economic growth and demographic shifts in Vernon and in the Okanagan have affected the city’s development and employment base. All of these factors changed the level and the type of the airport’s usage for personal and corporate users,” Laing Gahr says.

The Sept. 17 open house will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lakers Clubhouse at7000 Cummins Road.

More information and an online questionnaire can be found here.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.