As the Pitt Meadows Airport grows up, the hobby fliers there could get pushed out.
Bob Bregg’s aviation hobby is virtually a full-time job. He restores planes and flies them, based out of three bays in a hangar of seven. It is owned by a not-for-profit society known as Skyhaven Aviation.
Bregg and the other society members own the building, but lease the land from the airport. They have been told that when the five-year lease runs out at the end of October, it will not be renewed.
Not renewing the lease will end a long business relationship. The society first started leasing land from Transport Canada in 1963 in the earliest days of the airport, and then from the Pitt Meadows Airport Society in 1993.
With the local municipalities taking responsibility for the airport, the hangar building was re-engineered to ensure it was structurally sound, and Bregg points out where the wooden frame on the building has been doubled up.
So Bregg’s shares in a building – assessed at $100,000, and is likely worth more than that, he said – will become worthless.
“I can afford the loss, but I can’t afford to get back into aviation,” he said.
“I just have a genuine love for being here, and it’s gut wrenching to lose the property.”
A former aircraft mechanic, he had a long career with Cascade Aerospace in Abbotsford, but two years ago lost his career due to illness. He has since had a liver transplant that has restored his quality of life, but is left with a love for the work and a lot of time on his hands.
He’s got a Cessna 150 that he is working on – he used to take it to work from the Pitt Meadows airport to Abbotsford every day, giving him a 12-minute commute. It has a rebuilt engine and is in large pieces, waiting for painting. He hopes to have it restored by the end of the summer.
Then there’s a 1952 Piper Super Cub that he flies, which was “a complete wreck” when he got it, after having been crashed during an amphibious landing.
And there is a third aircraft that he has owned since his 20s, which needs to be rebuilt. It’s stripped down to parts, and he worries he will be stuck with nowhere to put his tools, much less assemble a plane.
He doesn’t restore them to sell.
“I’ve never sold an airplane. My wife is pretty good about it,” he said.
Soon, he might have to.
He wrote a letter asking for a lease renewal, and hand delivered three copies to Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows for the members of the airport board. He did not receive a response.
The airport board met Monday night, and Bregg attended to discuss the matter in person. He has offered to hire an engineer and do any renovations deemed necessary on the building, but the airport board will not discuss a new lease.
“I want to be part of their vision for the airport,” he said.
He acknowledges the hangar doesn’t look like much compared with the new buildings across the street that are part of the Golden Ears Business Park, but said it is typical of what is found at airports everywhere.
“It’s better than typical.”
He said there are 600 acres at the airport. Some have crops. So there should be room for everyone, he said.
Guy Miller just started his job as airport manager on June 18, and did not want to comment specifically on this situation.
However, he served as manager at the Langley Airport for 13 years, and said as new, vibrant companies are brought in, it is not unusual for them to displace old buildings, such as the Skyhaven Aviation hangar.
Mayor John Becker did not want to speak specifically about Bregg’s case, either, but said, in general, the airport management is following the direction set by the board.
“This is part of the general cleanup of the airport. This has been 20 years coming,” he said.
Becker added the airport is going to be a multi-million dollar economic generator, and it has to be modernized with up-to-date facilities.
“Facilities which do not meet those starts, upon expiration of the lease, will be torn down,” he said.
Becker agreed there could be other people who are forced out of their aviation hobby by the changes.
He said the people who have bays in the hangar should be able to rent hangar space elsewhere at the airport.
Asked about the financial loss to the people who own the hangars, he said any estimated value of the buildings is based on the assumption it can be sold.