Vernon airport in danger

by Kelly Hayes & Wayne Moore - Jul 29, 2008

Vernon's airport could be shutdown if owners of a small piece of land in the middle of the runway don't get a new lease by July 31. The lease expired in March 2006 and family spokesperson, Cindy Brewer, says the City of Vernon has been dragging its feet since then. "Two years have gone by and they have not made a very good effort to get this resolved," says Brewer. "They have said if we don't sign the lease agreement according to their terms and conditions, they won't provide services to the adjacent property. There's about 15 acres there for development. They shouldn't be doing that." Property owner John Jack and Brewer are both members of the Okanagan Indian Band. The property in question is situated on Reserve Number 6. Brewer says there has been a deal in place with the City of Vernon for the land for well over 30 years.

She says an appraisal was done when the lease expired in 2006 and says they are requesting a reasonable sum, as per the appraisal. Brewer says if the City of Vernon doesn't come forward with an acceptable lease by July 31, then the lease will be terminated by August 31. "It's not something we look forward to but if we can't come to an agreement, that's what we would have to do. There are other businesses that have lease agreements with the city that are surrounding the airport. It would impact them as well." Vernon Mayor, Wayne Lippert says the city has been doing its due diligence in trying to come to an agreement with Jack. "I don't know where this has come from or why, but we've had discussions with Edmund Gus, the Okanagan Indian Band Administrator this morning and I'm hopeful everything will get resolved," says Lippert. "We've had agreements in place up until about 18 months ago. We're still happy with the original deal and we've been paying as if we were working with the new agreement."

Lippert says while he hopes it doesn't come to this, Jack could effectively shut down the airport. "Anything is possible. It would still be an airport but essentially it would restrict the use of what could go in there. No airplanes could land, but we have businesses that have helicopters, so it would be a large helipad I guess." Brewer says all the owners want is what's fair. She claims they even agreed to take less than the appraised value if the city were to pre-pay the amount within a short period of time. "It was the city that proposed that." She says that was in early July, and by July 22, they said they would not pay the amount they themselves had suggested and were not going to pay any type of advance on the payment.