Buttonville Gets The Final Nail In The Coffin

[broken_slinky]

Looks like the land lease expires November 30th, 2023 and the airport is done.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/06/01/ ... ll-report/

[digits_]

Sad

[photofly]

buttonville.jpg (68.85 KiB) Viewed 4480 times

Let it die.

[lownslow]

I honestly thought it would outlive Downsview. I assume Downsview is still open?

[TeePeeCreeper]

I honestly thought it would outlive Downsview. I assume Downsview is still open?

It is but it’s almost impossible to get the PPR to get in there unless you are part of the flight testing program.

TPC

[5x5]

Let it die.

I feel a bit sad every time I hear of any airport closing. Being out west, I'm not familiar with the whole story there, but I am curious. Why would it be a good thing for it to be closed?

[photofly]

It’s not a good thing that it’s closing, but it’s a zombie airport whose heart died a few years ago and has been limping on. Time to let it go.

[TeePeeCreeper]

Let it die.

I feel a bit sad every time I hear of any airport closing. Being out west, I'm not familiar with the whole story there, but I am curious. Why would it be a good thing for it to be closed?

Navcanada closed the tower there a few years ago, and movements have increased since. (Surprise!) It’s one of those funky airports that can be jammed with in bound IFR, lots of VFR traffic including the news/police helicopters. Every time I’ve been in there it’s an absolute shit show to get out of if one is waiting for an IFR validation.

I’ve always thought the place was a mid air accident waiting to happen which occurred not that long between a training aircraft and a police drone if I remember things correctly…

@ Photofly:

I’m genuinely curious as we are all birds of the same feather… Why do you think/seem to advocate it closing is a good thing? I was under the impression that you are a GA guy and I find it odd that with GA dying a slow painful death that you wouldn’t oppose yet another primarily GA airport closure…

Fly safe all,

TPC

[skybluetrek]

Is the island airport going to be even more saturated now?

[photofly]

I’m genuinely curious as we are all birds of the same feather… Why do you think/seem to advocate it closing is a good thing? I was under the impression that you are a GA guy and I find it odd that with GA dying a slow painful death that you wouldn’t oppose yet another primarily GA airport closure…

Fly safe all,

TPC

I don't think it's a good thing at all. It's like a beloved relative who's been on life support for too long. We all know she's going to die - maybe this year, maybe next year, but it's a certainty. We did the mourning (and campaigning) a few years ago. The remarkable thing is that she's hung on this long.

Is the island airport going to be even more saturated now?

You mean is it going to get busier? No. There's no room.

[nessloch]

The 6 months heads up is really unexpected. I'm currently hangered at YKZ, called around to all nearby airports, no hangars available anywhere except Collingwood (which is a 1.5hr drive)... for ~$20k/year.

We need more condos and a mall in a low density area where Buttonville is, like I need a 11th finger....

[pelmet]

I’m genuinely curious as we are all birds of the same feather… Why do you think/seem to advocate it closing is a good thing? I was under the impression that you are a GA guy and I find it odd that with GA dying a slow painful death that you wouldn’t oppose yet another primarily GA airport closure…

Fly safe all,

TPC

I don't think it's a good thing at all. It's like a beloved relative who's been on life support for too long. We all know she's going to die - maybe this year, maybe next year, but it's a certainty. We did the mourning (and campaigning) a few years ago. The remarkable thing is that she's hung on this long.

There is a big difference between a human on life support and an airport which can be renewed as if it was newly born.

That doesn't mean it will, but it can.

Really poor comparison. Let me guess....100% chance you are not based there.

[rookiepilot]

The 6 months heads up is really unexpected. I'm currently hangered at YKZ, called around to all nearby airports, no hangars available anywhere except Collingwood (which is a 1.5hr drive)... for ~$20k/year.

We need more condos and a mall in a low density area where Buttonville is, like I need a 11th finger....

I think the government should cut off funding to our food banks that are seeing epic demand, take the money saved, nationalize all GA airports, and offer affordable / free hangers to all airplane owners.

My violin is stuck.

[photofly]

That doesn't mean it will, but it can.

The land was sold to Fairview for $300 million, and the Seftons aren't going to give that back. So, no it can't.

The time for sighing and wailing and gnashing of teeth was when the GTAA withdrew their $500k annual subsidy they used to pay as a reliever airport for Pearson, and the Seftons thought "screw you, aviation, we'll take the money and run". So would you, so would I, and so would anyone with half a brain. Buttonville has been "dead airport walking" for years. Whether I have a plane based there changes none of that. It's time to let it go. Just like my aunt Doris, and my Uncle Earnest (with the wooden leg and the colostomy bag). And their dog, too.

[khedrei]

Its likely you could arrange a build at CZBA if you want. The land lease isn't crazy expensive depending on size but you have to fund the build. There may be some space open for rent in a shared hangar depending on your needs.

As far as I know, the owner is open to more hangars. There are some downsides though... anyone based here knows what I mean...

[Loon-A-Tic]

The 6 months heads up is really unexpected. I'm currently hangered at YKZ, called around to all nearby airports, no hangars available anywhere except Collingwood (which is a 1.5hr drive)... for ~$20k/year.

We need more condos and a mall in a low density area where Buttonville is, like I need a 11th finger....

Did you ask around at PeterPatch, if your on the east side of the GTAA region it might be a reasonable option. Closer than Collingwood and a lot less traffic to navigate through than Burlington.

[PilotDAR]

I will miss Buttonville, as I miss King City, and Maple airports from times past, as well as a number of private aerodromes we have lost. We GA pilot/owners don't really contribute the value of the land we need for airports, when that land is desirable for urban use. I see growth in other aerodromes (Tottenham, Orillia) which is great, and I hear murmurs about a future Pickering airport, it's just evolution.

I hope we have a great good bye fly in at Buttonville in the fall....

[linecrew]

Meh they're just doing this to make way for Pickering International.

[Airbrake]

Pickering sounds like it will not come to anything.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busines ... ill-go-to/

After more than a half century in limbo, the federal government has abandoned plans for an airport at a site in Pickering, Ont., and will instead look to expand the area’s urban national park.

Transport Minister Anita Anand said the government had decided against turning the Pickering lands into an airport and would instead transfer the “vast majority” of it to Parks Canada with the intent to expand the Rouge National Urban Park.

“Our goal is to ensure this space benefits everyone today, and for generations to come,” she said on Monday. Anand was one of four cabinet ministers to attend the announcement.

A battle over the future of the land has brewed since at least 1972 when Pierre Trudeau’s government expropriated about 18,600 acres for a possible airport site. The move sparked protest, and the government put the plans on hold three years later in favour of expanding the province’s already-built airports.

At Monday’s announcement, a local Liberal MP credited conservation group Land Over Landings for its long-standing advocacy against the airport and for the protection of the land.

“This work continues to ensure the future of these lands reflect our shared vision. But finally, after 50 years, a threat of an airport is over and our future is bright,” said Jennifer O’Connell, MP for Pickering-Uxbridge.

Pickering city council voted in 2023 to withdraw its support for the airport plan. It cited a Transport Canada-commissioned report that concluded southern Ontario would not need a new airport before 2036.

The only vote against the motion was cast by Mayor Kevin Ashe, who suggested the airport would be a major economic driver to help support the city’s projected population boom.

The mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the past decade, the government has transferred more than half the Pickering land to Parks Canada for the creation and then the expansion of the Rouge National Urban Park.

But Transport Canada held on to about 8,700 acres of the land for a potential future airport. The government says properties have since been leased to residential, farm and commercial tenants.

The majority of the lands are agricultural and span an area across Pickering, Markham and Uxbridge. The area overlaps parts of Ontario’s protected Greenbelt and is the traditional and treaty lands of the First Nations who signed the Williams Treaty.

Consultations will be held with the public, Indigenous communities and the tenants in the “coming weeks” to determine future use of the lands, the government said.

“We want to get going on the consultations. There’s no time to waste,” Anand said.

The land not transferred to Parks Canada will stay with Transport Canada and undergo another consultation on future uses, a spokesperson for Anand said.

Anand said she expects the remaining land that falls within Ontario’s Greenbelt will be protected.

Transport Canada and the minister’s office did not respond to questions about the outcome of the department’s 2023 request for proposal to study airport capacity needs in southern Ontario.

A department news release at the time said the study would mark the “first step” toward a final decision on future airport capacity constraints and on the future of the Pickering lands.

At Monday’s announcement, Anand said Toronto Pearson Airport and the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport were “extremely important hubs.”

The government is also set to spend $21 million to build a new visitor, learning and community centre at the Rouge National Urban Park. It says the park is about an hour’s drive from 20 per cent of Canada’s population and is accessible by public transit.

[5x5]

“But finally, after 50 years, a threat of an airport is over and our future is bright,” said Jennifer O’Connell, MP for Pickering-Uxbridge.

Oh, those horrible airports! Ain’t it great when our government takes such pride in keeping us all safe?

[newlygrounded]

“But finally, after 50 years, a threat of an airport is over and our future is bright,” said Jennifer O’Connell, MP for Pickering-Uxbridge.

Oh, those horrible airports! Ain’t it great when our government takes such pride in keeping us all safe?

TBF unless you're a GA pilot the airport provides no benefit to you but lots of drawbacks (noise, pollution etc)

[Blueontop]

“But finally, after 50 years, a threat of an airport is over and our future is bright,” said Jennifer O’Connell, MP for Pickering-Uxbridge.

Oh, those horrible airports! Ain’t it great when our government takes such pride in keeping us all safe?

TBF unless you're a GA pilot the airport provides no benefit to you but lots of drawbacks (noise, pollution etc)

Airports are an economic driver my friend. They create jobs and bring talent and product into their communities. The NIMBYS only care about themselves and are short sighted at best.

[newlygrounded]

Oh, those horrible airports! Ain’t it great when our government takes such pride in keeping us all safe?

TBF unless you're a GA pilot the airport provides no benefit to you but lots of drawbacks (noise, pollution etc)

Airports are an economic driver my friend. They create jobs and bring talent and product into their communities. The NIMBYS only care about themselves and are short sighted at best.

I doubt ykz was a huge economic driver, even then the people living nearby deal will all the downsides with no more benefits than anyone living further away

[linecrew]

TBF unless you're a GA pilot the airport provides no benefit to you but lots of drawbacks (noise, pollution etc)

Airports are an economic driver my friend. They create jobs and bring talent and product into their communities. The NIMBYS only care about themselves and are short sighted at best.

I doubt ykz was a huge economic driver, even then the people living nearby deal will all the downsides with no more benefits than anyone living further away

Replace YKZ with YTZ and the opposite is true.

[newlygrounded]

Airports are an economic driver my friend. They create jobs and bring talent and product into their communities. The NIMBYS only care about themselves and are short sighted at best.

I doubt ykz was a huge economic driver, even then the people living nearby deal will all the downsides with no more benefits than anyone living further away

Replace YKZ with YTZ and the opposite is true.

If my grandma had wheels she'd be a bicycle, of fucking course an airport with international + scheduled flights is going to provide more benefits to locals than a GA airport