A longtime pilot at Niagara Central Dorothy Rungeling Airport in Ontario urged officials Thursday to delay a proposed lease that would turn the airport’s main hangar into an indoor soccer facility until after this fall’s municipal elections. The airport commission is considering leasing the roughly 14,000-square-foot Hangar 1 to a soccer organization for use as an indoor facility.
According to reporting by Village Media, the Ontario hangar has been vacant for nearly 20 months and the proposed lease could generate more than $100,000 annually for the airport. The soccer organization has also offered to pay for upgrades to the building. The airport’s website currently lists its larger airport-owned hangars as fully occupied and directs pilots seeking private hangars to join a waitlist.
Transport Canada Review
“Until I get a ruling from the federal government, nothing happens,” airport commission chair John MacLellan told Village Media.
MacLellan has asked Transport Canada whether the recreational use is permitted under the legislation governing the airport, which is jointly owned by the Ontario municipalities of Pelham, Welland, Port Colborne and Wainfleet.
The commission rejected a proposed moratorium on considering nonaviation leases last month in a 4-3 vote.
“We can’t be doing this,” Welland Coun. Graham Speck told Village Media. “We are here to be an airport.”
Speck is one of several commission members who have questioned whether the proposed lease complies with the airport’s governing legislation.
Pilot Pushback
Pilot Adrian Verburg, who has been based at the Ontario airport for more than 30 years and leads the local Canadian Owners and Pilots Association chapter, raised additional objections in two letters published by PelhamToday this week.
Verburg said the hangar should remain available for possible flight training and aircraft maintenance operations and questioned the suitability of the building for recreational use. In his Thursday letter, he also argued the current commission should defer major decisions until after this fall’s municipal elections.
“Leasing the hangar out to non-aviation puts another nail in the coffin for the airport’s future.” Verburg wrote in his Aug. 19 letter to PelhamToday.
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