Fencing the airport won’t be cheap

By David F. Rooney

Fencing the airport to prevent people from wandering onto the runway will not happen this year, Mayor David Raven said during Tuesday’s Council meeting.

The fence is estimated to cost about $100,000 and would be paid for by taxpayers in the City and the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Area B, he said.

For now, Raven said, signage will be erected along the perimeter of the airport warning people to stay out.

This is the latest wrinkle in a years-old discussion about airport security that culminated earlier this spring with a threat by the CSRD that it would move to bar public access to the flats south of the airport because some fools allegedly like to wander onto the runway.

That threat resulted in several letters of protest being written to the Loni Parker, the CSRD’s Area B director.

You can read the previous stories about this issue here, here, here and here.

Airport security is an increasingly important issue for the CSRD as it is seeking federal certification required for the establishment of regularly scheduled air service.