The City of Grand Forks has approved this year’s budget to include updating the airport’s infrastructure.
There is $68K allotted in budget for updates to the beacons and the outdated equipment within the next year.
In a city council meeting on March 19, Grand Forks’ Chief Administrative Officer Lynne Burch stated, “The infrastructure installed in the airport in the late-90s is starting to fail. Serious discussions with regional jurisdictions, such as Interior Health, will have to take place in order to deal with the issue of the airport.”
Raising land base rates, implementing tie down and landing fees may have to be considered, Burch stated.
Coun. Cher Wyers added the city will need to consider efforts to boost usage of the airport and the lighting systems for the beacons require replacing.
“The lighting systems were put in 1998,” Wyers said. “All the solar panels and batteries that were put up on our hill tops are becoming dated and eventually need replacing.”
The lights and panels are serviced regularly but will need to be updated some time soon.
Burch added, “There are certain parts of the beacons that are starting to fail. That’s the technical part which has to do with radio frequencies.”
There are nine beacons placed strategically on the mountaintops to help guide the plane during the night.
“It’s the beacons that we use for the night flying on the mountains. They’re starting to fail and the technology is old and we can’t get parts anymore,” Burch said. ‘We’re looking for a fair amount of money to start the process.”
Manager for Environmental and Building Construction Services for the city Wayne Kopan stated the process is moving forward.
“Now that the budget is passed we can get a hold of the contractors and find out when we can get them done,” he pointed out. “Then we’ll go into the process of putting it to bed and getting it done.”
Kopan added the upgrades also include the complete replacement of the radio control system.
There is no set date for when the beacons will be upgraded.
Grand Forks Airport has a 4,300-foot (1,310 metres) runway with two taxiways and aprons. The airport is now equipped with 24 airport landing lights which allows for emergency access flights 24-hours a day.