York Quay Neighbourhood Association 2016-11-23
I'd like to thank the York Quay Neighbourhood Association for the opportunity to speak on recent developments at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, the airport so close to where the residents of YQNA live. The topic of the proposed runway extension and removal of the ban on commercial jet aircraft is no longer so pressing, as the federal government decided on November 12, 2015 that they would not reopen the BBTCA Tripartite Agreement, thereby putting a stop to that expansion proposal. However, things are not always simple, and a look at what has happened over the past year shows that the airport still aims to expand, albeit in different ways.
Has Airport Expansion Gone Away? BBTCA Expansion Initiatives
The short answer is “No”, airport expansion has not gone away. The Porter Proposal – to extend runways and to allow commercial jet use at BBTCA – has gone away for now, “now” being for the duration of the current government. However, numerous airport expansion initiatives have been undertaken and continue:
• 30 Bay Street Office Tower (announced March 28, 2012 – ongoing)
• Pedestrian Tunnel (opened July 30, 2015)
• US Customs Pre-Clearance (announced March 10, 2016 – ongoing)
• Airfield Rehabilitation Project (announced June 8, 2016 – ongoing to 2018)
• Ground Run-up Enclosure (announced June 8, 2016 – ongoing to 2017)
• Terminal Expansion (announced October 13, 2016 – ongoing)
30 Bay Street Office Tower
Press release: Project announced 2012
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/toronto-port-authority-moves-forward-on-bay-street.aspx
Project: 45 storey 944,00 square foot commercial/retail tower on the 30 Bay/60 Harbour lot
Design: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates for Oxford Properties
Required: changes to TPA (PortsToronto) Letters Patent
“this significant development initiative is a major element of the long term financial sustainability of the TPA, and will increase the agency’s flexibility as it undertakes various essential public works projects over the coming years.” TPA Chairman Mark McQueen (2012)
Update: Ex-Chairman Mark McQueen's September 16 2016 comments on the 30 Bay Street office tower development:
http://www.wellingtonfund.com/liberals-to-benefit-from-free-500m-infrastructure-project-for-toronto/
McQueen's recent remarks make clear the connection between the 30 Bay Street Office Tower project and PortsToronto financing of operations and expansion plans, especially at the BBTCA.
Pedestrian Tunnel
Press release: Start of tunnel construction (March 9, 2012)
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/innovative-new-airport-pedestrian-tunnel-a-boost-f.aspx
Press release: Tunnel opens (July 30, 2015)
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/pedestrian-tunnel-to-billy-bishop-toronto-city-air.aspx
US Customs Pre-Clearance
US Customs Pre-Clearance would enable passengers departing BBTCA for destinations in the United States to clear US customs at BBTCA, as now currently happens at Pearson International Airport. Adopting this procedure would mean that flights originating at BBTCA could land at American airports that do not have built-in customs clearance areas of their own, making potentially available a greater number of destinations that could be served by BBTCA. This pre-clearance requires cooperation between the governments of both countries and is unlikely to be addressed until the more pressing issues of the November 8, 2016 US Presidential Election are settled.
Press release
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/billy-bishop-toronto-city-airport-among-transporta.aspx
PortsToronto Airfield Rehabilitation Project
Press release
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/airfield-restoration-planned-for-billy-bishop-toro.aspx
Project web site
http://www.billybishopairfieldproject.com/
Airfield Rehabilitation Project details
https://www.portstoronto.com/airport/business-information/future-planning/airfield-rehabilitation-program.aspx
Related indirectly to this project is the larger question of when or how BBTCA will implement Runway End Safety Areas (RESAs). Discussion can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B86yxyGd4xMWZl9QV0lYNTVQYUk/view
Ground Run-up Enclosure (GRE)
Press release
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/airfield-restoration-planned-for-billy-bishop-toro.aspx
GRE details
http://www.billybishopairfieldproject.com/elements/gre.aspx
https://www.portstoronto.com/airport/business-information/future-planning/ground-run-up-enclosure.aspx
The Ground Run-up Enclosure being built at BBTCA is designed to mitigate the noise caused by aircraft doing engine runups at the airport. Such runups are a part of testing maintenance work that has been done on an aircraft. Runups are the noisiest airport activity – noisier than takeoffs and landings – and the noise they generate is not controlled by the Tripartite Agreement that governs flight operations at BBTCA.
The proposed GRE is technically capable of accommodating any Code C aircraft (including and beyond the Code C rated Q400s currently in use by Porter and Air Canada). The GRE was sized to let aircraft be powered in and out of the structure, as opposed to being manually towed. Note however that the Code C designation is for aircraft with a wingspan greater than 24 m but less than 36 m. The Q400 wingspan is 28.4 m (on the small end of Code C rating); the CS100 (the jet of the Porter Proposal) has a wingspan of 35.1 m (at the upper end of Code C rating).
PortsToronto Terminal Expansion
PortsToronto press release
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/portstoronto-approves-plan-to-upgrade-and-enhance.aspx
Objection to terminal expansion
http://thebulletin.ca/island-airport-expands-terminal-without-community-consultation/
"the presentation on current Island Airport issues by PortsToronto’s Executive Vice-President Gene Cabral on September 14 to the York Quay Neighbourhood Association made no mention of it. Nor was it mentioned at a recent PortsToronto Community Liaison Committee meeting." – Brian Iler, CommunityAIR
Details on terminal expansion
https://www.portstoronto.com/airport/business-information/future-planning/terminal-upgrades.aspx
Specific improvements include:
• re-configuring offices and administrative areas to accommodate passenger processing needs
in anticipation of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance facility at the airport
• more space in both passenger lounges, thereby enabling more seating and additional amenities such as retail, food and beverage services
• changes will add approximately 27000 square feet to the terminal, with the majority of the increase being in the passenger lounges
• Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure Partners (the terminal's owner) will also add an 11th gate to increase the terminal’s operational flexibility
Summary of BBTCA Expansion Initiatives
These projects are within PortsToronto's jurisdiction, being outside the Tripartite Agreement governing airport operations, so they can proceed without the City or Federal approval that would be needed to make changes to the Agreement. However, the 30 Bay Street office tower project needs changes to the Toronto Port Authority Letters Patent, as the lands are not designated for such a use; indeed, it's not clear that they are properly lands of PortsToronto at all. In my view, as they did with the tunnel, PortsToronto are building out airport infrastructure to serve as an argument for expansion and a request for a lease renewal.
The Ground Run-up Enclosure can be presented as an example of good neighborliness, except that surrounding neighborhoods have asked that run ups stop, not that their noise be mitigated to some degree. The Ground Run-up Enclosure will also be overbuilt, able to accommodate much larger aircraft than the Q400s, on the argument that the added size will obviate the need to have aircraft towed into the GRE as they will instead have the necessary space to taxi and turn inside the enclosure on their own power. However, the GRE becomes less effective acoustically in that case, as the design then presents a more open noise profile because of the added size.
Airfield rehabilitation is probably needed, but will be done to a degree to make the runway bed suitable to bear the weight of a CS100, which is twice that of the Q400s already in place. Such work was identified as needed for CS100s to use the runway.
The tunnel has been presented as needed to handle a larger capacity of passengers, and to reduce surges in passenger flows, but those surges only affect the check-in desks for arriving passengers, and taxi stands for departing passengers.
The existing ferry easily handled the actual passenger load, so the benefits of the tunnel are hard to justify at $85M.
Finally, the terminal expansion announced last month is entirely geared to expansion. So the struggle to control airport growth continues.
The question of how PortsToronto will pay for these expansion initiatives is tied to the 30 Bay Street Office Tower project, as Mark McQueen has discussed (see above). PortsToronto sees revenues from the 30 Bay Street project as assurance for its solvency.
Many of these expansion initiatives can be seen as laying the groundwork for a request to give a lease renewal or new lease to the airport to allow it to continue operating at the Island. The current Tripartite Agreement expires in 2033 and the greater the dollar investment that is made in the airport, the more that investment can be used in arguments to renew the presence of the BBTCA. Germane to this discussion are questions such as: “What are the alternatives to an Island Airport in Toronto?” and “What would be the future constraints on an airport should one remain?” These are questions for another day.
• 30 Bay Street Office Tower (announced March 28, 2012 – ongoing)
• Pedestrian Tunnel (opened July 30, 2015)
• US Customs Pre-Clearance (announced March 10, 2016 – ongoing)
• Airfield Rehabilitation Project (announced June 8, 2016 – ongoing to 2018)
• Ground Run-up Enclosure (announced June 8, 2016 – ongoing to 2017)
• Terminal Expansion (announced October 13, 2016 – ongoing)
30 Bay Street Office Tower
Press release: Project announced 2012
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/toronto-port-authority-moves-forward-on-bay-street.aspx
Project: 45 storey 944,00 square foot commercial/retail tower on the 30 Bay/60 Harbour lot
Design: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates for Oxford Properties
Required: changes to TPA (PortsToronto) Letters Patent
“this significant development initiative is a major element of the long term financial sustainability of the TPA, and will increase the agency’s flexibility as it undertakes various essential public works projects over the coming years.” TPA Chairman Mark McQueen (2012)
Update: Ex-Chairman Mark McQueen's September 16 2016 comments on the 30 Bay Street office tower development:
http://www.wellingtonfund.com/liberals-to-benefit-from-free-500m-infrastructure-project-for-toronto/
McQueen's recent remarks make clear the connection between the 30 Bay Street Office Tower project and PortsToronto financing of operations and expansion plans, especially at the BBTCA.
Pedestrian Tunnel
Press release: Start of tunnel construction (March 9, 2012)
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/innovative-new-airport-pedestrian-tunnel-a-boost-f.aspx
Press release: Tunnel opens (July 30, 2015)
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/pedestrian-tunnel-to-billy-bishop-toronto-city-air.aspx
US Customs Pre-Clearance
US Customs Pre-Clearance would enable passengers departing BBTCA for destinations in the United States to clear US customs at BBTCA, as now currently happens at Pearson International Airport. Adopting this procedure would mean that flights originating at BBTCA could land at American airports that do not have built-in customs clearance areas of their own, making potentially available a greater number of destinations that could be served by BBTCA. This pre-clearance requires cooperation between the governments of both countries and is unlikely to be addressed until the more pressing issues of the November 8, 2016 US Presidential Election are settled.
Press release
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/billy-bishop-toronto-city-airport-among-transporta.aspx
PortsToronto Airfield Rehabilitation Project
Press release
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/airfield-restoration-planned-for-billy-bishop-toro.aspx
Project web site
http://www.billybishopairfieldproject.com/
Airfield Rehabilitation Project details
https://www.portstoronto.com/airport/business-information/future-planning/airfield-rehabilitation-program.aspx
Related indirectly to this project is the larger question of when or how BBTCA will implement Runway End Safety Areas (RESAs). Discussion can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B86yxyGd4xMWZl9QV0lYNTVQYUk/view
Ground Run-up Enclosure (GRE)
Press release
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/airfield-restoration-planned-for-billy-bishop-toro.aspx
GRE details
http://www.billybishopairfieldproject.com/elements/gre.aspx
https://www.portstoronto.com/airport/business-information/future-planning/ground-run-up-enclosure.aspx
The Ground Run-up Enclosure being built at BBTCA is designed to mitigate the noise caused by aircraft doing engine runups at the airport. Such runups are a part of testing maintenance work that has been done on an aircraft. Runups are the noisiest airport activity – noisier than takeoffs and landings – and the noise they generate is not controlled by the Tripartite Agreement that governs flight operations at BBTCA.
The proposed GRE is technically capable of accommodating any Code C aircraft (including and beyond the Code C rated Q400s currently in use by Porter and Air Canada). The GRE was sized to let aircraft be powered in and out of the structure, as opposed to being manually towed. Note however that the Code C designation is for aircraft with a wingspan greater than 24 m but less than 36 m. The Q400 wingspan is 28.4 m (on the small end of Code C rating); the CS100 (the jet of the Porter Proposal) has a wingspan of 35.1 m (at the upper end of Code C rating).
PortsToronto Terminal Expansion
PortsToronto press release
https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/media-room/news/portstoronto-approves-plan-to-upgrade-and-enhance.aspx
Objection to terminal expansion
http://thebulletin.ca/island-airport-expands-terminal-without-community-consultation/
"the presentation on current Island Airport issues by PortsToronto’s Executive Vice-President Gene Cabral on September 14 to the York Quay Neighbourhood Association made no mention of it. Nor was it mentioned at a recent PortsToronto Community Liaison Committee meeting." – Brian Iler, CommunityAIR
Details on terminal expansion
https://www.portstoronto.com/airport/business-information/future-planning/terminal-upgrades.aspx
Specific improvements include:
• re-configuring offices and administrative areas to accommodate passenger processing needs
in anticipation of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance facility at the airport
• more space in both passenger lounges, thereby enabling more seating and additional amenities such as retail, food and beverage services
• changes will add approximately 27000 square feet to the terminal, with the majority of the increase being in the passenger lounges
• Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure Partners (the terminal's owner) will also add an 11th gate to increase the terminal’s operational flexibility
Summary of BBTCA Expansion Initiatives
These projects are within PortsToronto's jurisdiction, being outside the Tripartite Agreement governing airport operations, so they can proceed without the City or Federal approval that would be needed to make changes to the Agreement. However, the 30 Bay Street office tower project needs changes to the Toronto Port Authority Letters Patent, as the lands are not designated for such a use; indeed, it's not clear that they are properly lands of PortsToronto at all. In my view, as they did with the tunnel, PortsToronto are building out airport infrastructure to serve as an argument for expansion and a request for a lease renewal.
The Ground Run-up Enclosure can be presented as an example of good neighborliness, except that surrounding neighborhoods have asked that run ups stop, not that their noise be mitigated to some degree. The Ground Run-up Enclosure will also be overbuilt, able to accommodate much larger aircraft than the Q400s, on the argument that the added size will obviate the need to have aircraft towed into the GRE as they will instead have the necessary space to taxi and turn inside the enclosure on their own power. However, the GRE becomes less effective acoustically in that case, as the design then presents a more open noise profile because of the added size.
Airfield rehabilitation is probably needed, but will be done to a degree to make the runway bed suitable to bear the weight of a CS100, which is twice that of the Q400s already in place. Such work was identified as needed for CS100s to use the runway.
The tunnel has been presented as needed to handle a larger capacity of passengers, and to reduce surges in passenger flows, but those surges only affect the check-in desks for arriving passengers, and taxi stands for departing passengers.
The existing ferry easily handled the actual passenger load, so the benefits of the tunnel are hard to justify at $85M.
Finally, the terminal expansion announced last month is entirely geared to expansion. So the struggle to control airport growth continues.
The question of how PortsToronto will pay for these expansion initiatives is tied to the 30 Bay Street Office Tower project, as Mark McQueen has discussed (see above). PortsToronto sees revenues from the 30 Bay Street project as assurance for its solvency.
Many of these expansion initiatives can be seen as laying the groundwork for a request to give a lease renewal or new lease to the airport to allow it to continue operating at the Island. The current Tripartite Agreement expires in 2033 and the greater the dollar investment that is made in the airport, the more that investment can be used in arguments to renew the presence of the BBTCA. Germane to this discussion are questions such as: “What are the alternatives to an Island Airport in Toronto?” and “What would be the future constraints on an airport should one remain?” These are questions for another day.
A Brief Chronology of Expansion Initiatives and Related Milestones
- March 9, 2012: Pedestrian tunnel construction started
- March 28, 2012: 30 Bay Street Office Tower project announced
- May 2013: Porter Plans jet proposal announced: From this date until November 12, 2016 when the federal government announced it would not open the BBTCA Tripartite Agreement to changes, numerous debates, studies and, consultations occurred (too many to detail here)
- July 30, 2015: Pedestrian Tunnel opened
- October 19, 2015: Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party form a majority government following the federal election
- November 2015: Briefing notes given to the new government by the Greater Waterfront Coalition
- November 12, 2015: Minister of Transport Marc Garneau declares the government's intention to not open the BBTCA Tripartite Agreement to changes
- March 8, 2016: Conservative Party Opposition Day Debate attempting to reverse the government's position on changes to the Tripartite Agreement
- March 10, 2016: US Customs Pre-Clearance announced
- June 8, 2016: Airfield Rehabilitation Project announced
- June 8, 2016: Ground Run-up Enclosure announced
- October 13, 2016: Terminal Expansion announced
- October 20, 2016: WATERFRONToronto - Port Lands Flood Protection and Enabling Infrastructure Due Diligence Report
- 2033: Current Island Airport Tripartite Agreement expires
OTHER MATERIALS
WATERFRONToronto - Port Lands Flood Protection and Enabling Infrastructure Due Diligence Report
This report analyzes and costs the Lower Donlands Flood Protection plan created by WATERFRONToronto. This project will unlock the Lower Donlands and Eastern Portlands for development. Aggressive airport expansion could lead to Obstacle Surface Limitation and glidepath conflicts with buildings constructed in these areas.
Due Diligence Report
http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/uploads/documents/due_diligence_report_october_20_2016_1.pdf
Waterfront for All
A coalition of groups interested in a waterfront developed for public uses. Now launched, initially responding to Waterfront Toronto's Due Diligence Report on work on the Don River Floodway.
http://www.waterfrontforall.ca/
An update on the status of Porter Airlines (2016-10-23)
Toronto Star, Vanessa Lu
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/10/23/with-jet-dream-dashed-porter-turns-to-slower-growth.html
Conservative Party Opposition Day Debate on BBTCA Expansion
Hansard transcript of debate
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Doc=28&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=42&Pub=Hansard&Ses=1
Vote result
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HouseChamberBusiness/ChamberVoteDetail.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=42&Ses=1&FltrParl=42&FltrSes=1&Vote=21
The opposition motion, defeated in the House of Commons, read:
“That the House: (a) acknowledge the contribution Bombardier makes to the Canadian economy and the aerospace industry; (b) recognize that there is a market solution already available that could support Bombardier; (c) acknowledge that Bombardier has designed the quietest and best aircraft in its class that is well suited to urban airports like the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport; (d) recognize that the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a major economic driver for the Greater Toronto Area that supports both business and leisure travel; (e) recognize that the expansion of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport would allow airlines to purchase Bombardier aircraft; and (f) call on the government to reverse its decision on restricting the expansion of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.”
Briefing notes given to the government by the Greater Waterfront Coalition
These notes were a critique of the Porter Proposal, pointing out drawbacks in the ongoing studies, and areas of study that were not receiving proper analysis.
Briefing notes on Porter Plans expansion
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B86yxyGd4xMWR19adWJNeWJQM0E/view
Other BBTCA expansion documents
http://bbtcafacts.weebly.com/documents.html
This report analyzes and costs the Lower Donlands Flood Protection plan created by WATERFRONToronto. This project will unlock the Lower Donlands and Eastern Portlands for development. Aggressive airport expansion could lead to Obstacle Surface Limitation and glidepath conflicts with buildings constructed in these areas.
Due Diligence Report
http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/uploads/documents/due_diligence_report_october_20_2016_1.pdf
Waterfront for All
A coalition of groups interested in a waterfront developed for public uses. Now launched, initially responding to Waterfront Toronto's Due Diligence Report on work on the Don River Floodway.
http://www.waterfrontforall.ca/
An update on the status of Porter Airlines (2016-10-23)
Toronto Star, Vanessa Lu
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/10/23/with-jet-dream-dashed-porter-turns-to-slower-growth.html
Conservative Party Opposition Day Debate on BBTCA Expansion
Hansard transcript of debate
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Doc=28&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=42&Pub=Hansard&Ses=1
Vote result
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HouseChamberBusiness/ChamberVoteDetail.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=42&Ses=1&FltrParl=42&FltrSes=1&Vote=21
The opposition motion, defeated in the House of Commons, read:
“That the House: (a) acknowledge the contribution Bombardier makes to the Canadian economy and the aerospace industry; (b) recognize that there is a market solution already available that could support Bombardier; (c) acknowledge that Bombardier has designed the quietest and best aircraft in its class that is well suited to urban airports like the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport; (d) recognize that the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a major economic driver for the Greater Toronto Area that supports both business and leisure travel; (e) recognize that the expansion of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport would allow airlines to purchase Bombardier aircraft; and (f) call on the government to reverse its decision on restricting the expansion of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.”
Briefing notes given to the government by the Greater Waterfront Coalition
These notes were a critique of the Porter Proposal, pointing out drawbacks in the ongoing studies, and areas of study that were not receiving proper analysis.
Briefing notes on Porter Plans expansion
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B86yxyGd4xMWR19adWJNeWJQM0E/view
Other BBTCA expansion documents
http://bbtcafacts.weebly.com/documents.html