The Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport came away a big winner at the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations’ annual conference in early September.
The airport won the Community Economic Development Award for its 10-year track record of being an economic catalyst for growth.
The facility was opened by Premier Bill Davis in 1979 with a 3,000-foot runway and a trailer for a passenger terminal. Today, there is 4,200 feet of tarmac and it is a thriving industrial park.
“We are now the only municipal airport in Ontario that’s profitable,” said airport commission chair Doug Sainsbury.
Since 2004, the airport has seen five phases of industrial expansion with a sixth currently underway and scheduled for completion by year’s end.
Over the years, there’s been water and sewer infrastructure installed and extended, along with new roads, taxiways, an apron, three-phase hydro, floating docks for amphibious aircraft, and ground preparation for companies to move in.
“My favourite thing is looking at before and after photographs,” said Sainsbury. “When you look at that, you say, wow, look what we’ve done.”
The Parry Sound Area Community and Business Development Centre has aided the commission with long-range development planning, funding applications, management of contracts and cash flows, along with capital and operating funding to five commercial tenants.
When the sixth phase is finished on Dec. 31, a total of $4.3 million will have been contributed by FedNor and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund toward the faculty, which in turn has leveraged $10.2 million in private investment with new hangars, 10 new business operators, 60 full-time jobs, and a refurbished passenger terminal.
Bill Spinney, the development centre’s executive director, gives credit to the commission and Sainsbury for being the “driving force” in the waves of expansion.
“They all have a passion for seeing this facility grow.”
