The City of Brantford Council have given City staff approval to investigate possible funding sources for additional T-Hangars for the Brantford Municipal Airport during a Committee of the Whole, Operations meeting on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.
Council were voting to receive Report 2024-391, titled June 2024 Real Estate and Facilities Report, as well to have staff investigate possible funding sources for two more rows of T-Hangars and report back to the Airport Board.
Ray Petro, Manager of Real Estate for the City of Brantford, said that there was a demand for more hangars at the airport due to the closure of several regional airports.
Councillor Dan McCreary clarified with Petro if the hangars are bringing in money and Petro said that the hangars do in fact bring in economic development to the airport alongside fuel sales and other expenses.
Councillor Richard Carpenter wondered if they should wait to move forward with the new hangars until they have received an upcoming report which includes the appraisal done on the airport’s value and Brian Hutchings, CAO for the City of Brantford, said that the report should be coming forward in the next 30 to 60 days.
“I want to make sure the councillors were clear that the report or work plan on a timeline on all the matters, such as the commercial hangar, the T-Hangar, the T-Hangars [being discussed] tonight, as well as the consideration for the Municipal Service Corporation (MSC), won’t be a recommendation,” he said. “I want to make sure that it’s clear to everybody that it’ll be a report or work plan. There have been a number of motions that have come forth in regards to the airport in the last two years such as the appraisal and everything else so there has been no formal work plan to get all these things done. Something will be coming forward to Council in the next 30 to 60 days on that work plan so you can understand the timelines and all these six or seven initiatives.”
Councillor Rose Sicoli then asked a question regarding the creation of an MSC and how the funding would work in that regard.
“If we’re exploring the creation of an MSC, if we waited to build the hangars, it would be that corporation that paid for it, but if we do it now, then it’s the City paying for it? Is that the way this would happen?” she asked.
Hutchings said that her summary was correct but there was more to it.
“However, if the Municipal Service Corporation happens, much like when we merged Brantford Hydro with EnergyPlus, there’ll be assets that will be transferred over to the new corporation, and then there’d be an evaluation of those assets, and that corporation may have a liability owing to the City of Brantford,” he said. “That’ll all be rectified at the date of transfer but that’s down the road.”
Councillor Greg Martin then asked staff if the two rows of hangars were the ones that had been approved in 2023 because of high demand, and after receiving confirmation, he moved an amendment to change clause B in the report from “THAT staff BE DIRECTED to INVESTIGATE possible funding sources for two more rows of T-Hangars and REPORT BACK to the Airport Board” to “That clause B BE AMENDED to DIRECT STAFF to build two more rows of T-Hangars and REPORT BACK to council on August 27 with possible funding sources.”
“Thirty T-Hangars were approved for construction last year and we’re hoping 14 will be constructed soon but we’re still waiting on a permit from the County. The other two rows were approved, but they were taken out of the plan because of financial constraints,” he said speaking to the amendment. “That was never explained to the Airport Board and that was never explained to Council, it was just made by staff on a whim without direction. This amendment will put these two rows of T-Hangars back into the plan for construction, hopefully this year, and we’ll have a funding source come to Council so that we can approve that and move this project forward. It’s already a year behind and if we don’t approve this amendment, it’ll push it months and months further out and possibly not be constructed in time for this winter season which is when people want their aircraft in and out of the elements.”
Councillor Linda Hunt asked how the hangars would be built and Hutchings said there were two to three ways it could be done.
“Staff would be looking at other revenue, such as going to the debentures; what they would be, and what the rate would be,” Hutchings explained. “We would also look to see if there are any internal reserves we may have that may be available, and as Councillor Martin has suggested, there’s some airport reserves and other reserves we have to borrow from, or other other mechanisms, but those are the those are two or three of the primary ones we’d be looking at.”
Councillor Gino Caputo asked if the rentals of the hangars would cover the cost of the debentures used to build the units without using any reserves and Petro said there was a good chance that could happen.
“The numbers really can work, we just have to sit down with finance and see what those look like,” he said. “That’s the part of the staff research that goes into this, but the short answer is yes, we can make the numbers work.”
The vote to approve the amendment was then carried 8-2, noting that Carpenter and Hunt voted against it, and that Mayor Kevin Davis was not present.
The report, as amended, was then carried out on a vote of 8-2, noting that Carpenter and Hunt voted against it, and that Mayor Kevin Davis was not present.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
