A community lobby effort to prevent airport officials from blocking their access to the Columbia River flats near the Revelstoke Airport has been successful – for now.
Revelstoke mayor David Raven, who is a member of the CSRD's Revelstoke Airport committee, announced the change at Revelstoke city council's April 24 meeting.
"We discussed the issue with [CSRD Manager, Environment and Engineering Services] Mr. Holte with the CSRD last week," Raven said, in response to a letter to council from the McNab family, who are residents in the area.
"That fence will not be built this year," Raven said. "There will be significant signage along that side of the airport to ensure that people and dogs do not get onto the airport, but for a number of reasons the fence that would have restricted that trail access will not be built this year." Raven did not elaborate on the reasons.
"It's quite a legitimate issue with safety for aircraft but at the same time we're going to try to use persuasion this year," he said.
The CSRD announced plans to build the fence in late March. Many residents in the area expressed opposition to the plan, saying it would block their access to a popular recreation site and may have been less than effective at achieving the goal of airport security.
The CSRD said a complete perimeter fence would cost $100,000. They had opted for a cheaper option to block public access to the entire area by extending a fence at the south of the airport. Other than new signage, it's unclear what steps will be taken in future years.