A day earlier, the upstart airline announced plans to purchase up to 30
Bombardier jet planes, which are currently banned from flying out of
the island airport. The aircraft would allow the company to serve new
destinations that are too far for its current turboprop fleet, but to do
so the jet ban would have to be lifted and the airport’s runways
extended further into the lake.
“I don’t have a problem with it,” he said after an event at City Hall
to launch the Mayor’s School Cricket Tournament. “It creates jobs, it’s
great for business.”
While opponents of Porter’s jet gambit cite concerns about pollution
and increased traffic on the adjacent shore, the mayor’s only worry is
the noise the planes might generate. But the company has assured him
that they won’t be disruptive.
“Again, the only thing I’m worried about is noise, but they’re saying
it’s very quiet,” Ford said. “So if there’s not a noise issue, then
there’s really not an issue.”
The airline is not seeking amendments to the airport’s current noise restrictions.
Calling Porter “a huge asset to the city,” Ford called on council to
support the expansion plan and said he would be comfortable if it became
an election issue in 2014. One potential mayoral candidate, Councillor
Karen Stintz, has already come out against it.
Adam Vaughan believes the mayor is setting himself up for a loss by
backing the airline. The Trinity-Spadina councillor says that most of
his colleagues oppose the idea of increased activity at the airport.
“It’s just another bad idea that the mayor supports. And another bad
idea that won’t get through council,” Vaughan said. “Every time the
mayor says yes to something, we win.”
Vaughan argues that keeping jets out of Billy Bishop is crucial to
ongoing efforts to revitalize the waterfront, efforts that the
councillor thinks Ford has already threatened by trying to push through
half-baked development plans for the Port Lands in 2011.
The mayor’s political opponents aren’t the only ones who object to the expansion.
Thursday afternoon Ford’s chair of planning, Councillor Peter Milczyn
also shot it down, saying the idea of extending the runways was dead on
arrival.
“I think the Porter flight from YTO is headed to DOA,” Milczyn quipped, in a play on Toronto’s airport code.
The councillor for Etobicoke-Lakeshore said that he was less concerned
about the noise of the jets than he was about filling in part of the
lake to make room for runways.
“Personally I might not object to a jet if it’s as quiet as a
turboprop,” he said. “But I think a significant lengthening of the
runway, that raises much bigger issues about our waterfront and impacts
on our waterfront.”
“And I don’t think there’s much interest at City Hall to enter into that debate,” he added.
Stintz agrees. She believes few of her colleagues have the appetite to
revise the three-party agreement between the city, federal government,
and Toronto Port Authority that limits the airport’s boundaries.
“I think there’s a lot of concerns with opening up the tripartite
agreement at this time,” she said. “It will expire in 2033, and if we
want to make changes to it then we can. But it is the governing
framework for the island airport, and I think it’s serving the island
airport well and it’s serving the city well.”
Source: NOW
Author: Ben Spurr
No comments:
Post a Comment