Airport development ready to go to Clearview council

CLEARVIEW Twp. – A multi-million-dollar industrial development planned beside the Collingwood Regional Airport could get moving as early as this summer.

On Thursday, Paul Bonwick – the government relations consultant for a group that’s amassed more than 260 acres on the east side of the airport property – told a small group of neighbours and municipal politicians an official plan amendment will be submitted to the township within the next week.

That will start the process that will eventually permit the property to be developed into an industrial park predominantly serving the aviation industry. Bonwick said when the property is completely built out, over the course of the next decade, the resulting businesses will probably employ about 400 people.

Bonwick said the first of three phases of the Clearview Aviation Commerce Centre (CCAC) – a 90-acre parcel bordering Sideroad 33 & 34 and the rail line – could be open for tenants by spring of 2016. That would coincide with the closure of the Buttonville Airport, one of the major drivers behind the development of the park.

Bonwick expects business tenants displaced by the Buttonville closure will be looking at Collingwood based on the proximity to major markets, quality of the local airport, and quality of life for employees.

“As we gain more businesses, it creates a ‘popcorn’ effect – it will create more desire to come here,” said Bonwick, speaking on behalf of one of the principals behind the project, Remo Niceforo.

However, Bonwick acknowledged, the group is still lobbying the provincial government to turn down a proposal by WPD Canada to erect several 450-foot wind turbines within 2,000 metres of the airport runway.

Bonwick said if it were not for the Green Energy Act, which took away local planning authority on green energy projects, it would be highly unlikely the turbines so close to the airport would be approved.

“From our perspective, [the location of wind turbines near the airport] could not be a greater challenge,” Bonwick said. “We’re trying to find as strong an argument as possible [to deny WPD’s application].

“[The developers] do not want to end up with an expensive piece of farmland with a road going through it,” he said. “We’re hopeful the province recognizes the three communities [Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, and Clearview Township] are speaking with one voice … of what’s in the public’s best interest.”

Genesis Flight Centre president David Gascoine says the development of the park only means good news for his business, which is housed in the airport’s original terminal building.

“I think it’s fantastic – they’re bringing in the larger infrastructure and larger companies that we can’t support on this site,” he said. “It brings more activity to the property, more dollars to the town, and more importantly, high-paying, high-skilled jobs.”

Bonwick expects the municipality to hold a public meeting on CACC’s official plan application in mid-January.