It took some talk, but the two cities are now working on resolving their differences over their shared asset, the Pitt Meadows Regional Airport.
Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge councils met Tuesday to discuss that, with the assistance of facilitator Gord McIntosh.
“There is no dotted line between our two communities. We are geographically linked and are neighbours in every sense of the word,” Pitt Meadows Mayor John Becker said in a release.
The two cities have previously had differences on strategic planning and the composition of the board that runs the airport.
“We have different opinions on what a successful airport looks like,” said Coun. Craig Speirs.
Both cities agreed on a process for the future.
“I think it’s a huge asset for both communities and should be allowed to grow,” Speirs said.
He added that the airport society has its annual meeting in May and wants the board to work on creating a vision and a plan for achieving that.
The frustrations between the two cities reached a peak July 29, when Pitt Meadows asked Maple Ridge to give up its share of the airport.
That was quickly rejected by Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read, who in a response the same day said Maple Ridge had “no intention of divesting ourselves of our interest in our joint asset. We also wish to remind you that multi-jurisdictional control of an airport is not unique to Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.”
Pitt Meadows seems to have accepted that Maple Ridge won’t give up its share of the airport, Speirs added.
The two councils met behind closed doors and also discussed the impending split of recreation services that will become final by the end of this year.
The facilitator from the Local Government Leadership Institute helped them sort through the issues.
He will report back to both councils on both topics.
“I think it went very well,” Becker said, adding it remains a work in progress.
“It’s just how we get ourselves aligned with respect to the regional asset,” while at the same time recognizing that Pitt Meadows has to deal with the day-to-day issues, such as bylaws, noise or traffic.
“So we had a very good discussion about respecting how Pitt Meadows deals with the local issues and how Maple Ridge would respect the fact that we have to deal with those,” Becker said.
“There was an appreciation for looking at how the two cities were going to deal with the airport at different levels.”
Maple Ridge deputy mayor Tyler Shymkiw stressed that no decisions were made at the meeting and that it was simply for the purposes of discussion.
“I think we’ve had a good relationship through all these processes.”
The annual meeting of the airport takes place in May. The two cities are members of a society that appoints a board that runs the facility.