Shut ‘er down

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It is the Energizer bunny of civic debates in Edmonton, a seemingly interminable discussion that crops up every few years to occupy the minds of politicians and raise the ire of citizens, the vast majority of whom have never and will never in their lives use the Edmonton City Centre Airport (ECCA).

With the conclusion of three days of public hearings at City Hall, which heard from 80 speakers, both pro and con, on the issue of closing the old Muni, the ball is now in city council's court, and it will discuss and potentially decide at a meeting on July 8 whether to close the airport and transform the 217 hectares of land into a transit-oriented community for over 24 000 people (33 000 including development of nearby land, and more due to the lifting of building height restrictions) over the next quarter-century or keep Edmonton's second airport open.

A report prepared for the city estimates that based on the current market the net benefit to the city after redevelopment costs would be between $91 million and $335 million, and property taxes would deliver up to $23.5 million in additional property taxes annually.

More critically, redevelopment of the land would serve to slow the relentless suburban sprawl which has categorized the city for so many years, bringing more density to the centre of the city and more passengers to support the expansion of the LRT. It is an ideal project to realize the vision of a smarter, greener way to develop Edmonton.

On the other side of the debate are the same dire warnings which have been heard before, most of them coming from nearby businesses and representatives of the Alberta Enterprise Group, a conservative advocacy organization: we'll lose our status as the "gateway to the North" (a bit of a stretch given that 70 percent of those flights already leave from the International), flights will bypass us and drive business to Calgary and, most ominously, we'll be putting at risk the 400 patients annually whose medevac flights land at ECCA—a problem for which it's hard to fathom a relatively simple solution can't be found.

Ultimately what the debate boils down to is which option will deliver the greatest good for the greatest number of Edmontonians. On that measure, it's clear that the best option is to finally close "our airport" and use the land to the benefit of more than a handful of well-heeled businesspeople on chartered flights. V

Vuepoint

Shut ‘er down

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