“Our lawyer advised us at our last meeting, do not sign the lease until the zoning is complete. What I am hearing is we are not quite ready, but also, what I’m hearing is the hangar owners saying, we have got to get this dealt with so we can sign the lease.”
Scott Musgrave shared his comments at the final council meeting this year on behalf of the hangar owners group at the Lloydminster Airport. Council is receiving public submissions on the Land Use ByLaw 30-2021 text amendment which concerns the Airport.
Musgrave has been a hangar owner for 20 years at the local airport. As he discussed the issues, he says that everyone is in favour of growth and change.
“There’s really two issues today that we are dealing with. One is the current uses of the airport, and can we put something together to allow the current uses to continue for the benefit of the owners, the City and the growth of the airport. And then the second element is in the future, how can we attract businesses to invest in Lloydminster and invest in the airport.”
Musgrave says the tool to do that is the Land Use Bylaw. He added his group wants clarity on that bylaw, then they can determine how to enact the change that all parties would like to see.
Monday’s council meeting got several submissions against the proposed bylaw. There were no presentations in favour of the changes.
On the leasing agreements, Musgrave says it must represent fairness to the City to protect their needs, but also fairness to the owners that they will not lose any equity or value.
The matter of the zoning is outstanding. As MyLloydminsterNow previously reported the hangar owners want mixed usage, while the City proposal calls for 75 per cent of the hangar space must be dedicated to aviation.
Musgrave addressed the storage as well as the business needs of the owners group.
“One of the concerns was, would they be able to continue to use that facility to put a boat or a car beside their airplane. Then the secondary issue is, if you have a business that is really active in aviation, is there the ability to have your business near the airplane. So if you are travelling one out of every three days, there’s common sense or an opportunity to have your airplane and business in the same facility.”
The hangar owners group also recommended to council that an advisory group be set up.
Mayor Gerald Aalbers says negotiations will continue on the leases and they will pursue further work on the bylaw.
“Well I think we want to get the leases cleaned up. I believe the leases have been outstanding for two years as this council and the previous council did, we have moved on leases and various items. So I think we will try and get the leases moved forward as soon as possible. And also at the same time, deal with the bylaw that needs to be updated.”
Aalbers said they are at a starting point and they will get to an end point as they continue dialogue with the hangar owners.