Earlier this year,  the Cortes Island community learned that there were renovations underway at the island’s old gravel airstrip. At a town hall meeting last June, around 125 residents turned out to express their concerns. Very little transpired until yesterday, Monday, August 12, when an asphalt truck was spotted in the BC Ferries webcam feed from Heriot Bay. It did not take long to confirm that the truck was coming to help lay a layer of chipseal on the runway. During the next hour, around 20 people gathered at the corner of Raven and Suitil Point Roads to block access to the airstrip. From the beginning it was clear this demonstration was a brief expression of displeasure and, after a delay, the truck would be allowed to proceed to the airstrip. The truck was delayed for about half an hour. Ben Adjami, who Martine Rothblatt employs as the project’s lead contract, came out to politely listen to the protester’s concerns. He then clarified some details about the project.

Chris Dragseth explained, “We’ve tried, as a small group of people, to engage in a respectful way. Unfortunately, to date, that has been totally unsuccessful. We’re wanting to go on record stating the community is not happy. The contractors are stuck in the middle. Our intent is to allow this truck to go through, but we want to demonstrate that there is some concern at all levels within the community.”

Priya Huffman added, “I’d like to say that for anyone entering the community who comes in with such a large footprint and such an unwillingness to engage with a community in any substantive way, personally or collectively: It doesn’t bode well for integrating into the community, or even being welcomed by the community. I would like your boss to really know that.  It’s not that we would be unwelcoming, but please, where’s the conversation?”  

Chris Dragseth: “We heard a lot of concerns raised by the community on the impacts of these kinds of developments being imposed upon us. This is going to change the lifestyle on Cortes. It’s going to have impacts on all of us and not necessarily good.”

“These are people from away  They’re coming and imposing their will on our community by putting this kind of infrastructure in place. We’ve tried to talk to both proponents, Michael Ching (who owns the airstrip) and Martine Rothblatt (who is behind the renovations). They have not responded in any substantive way as to the context for the airstrip, or what the future is for the airstrip, other than to say that it’s being paved, and it hasn’t been expanded. That’s insufficient because what they’re doing now will allow a far greater use of that airstrip by others from away. The concern we heard at the town hall is that people are coming here and using Cortes as their seasonal playground. For the most part, all of us in this group live here year round.”

“At the town hall session, we also heard that people say we aren’t opposed to visitors. We want visitors, but we also want them to be neighbours and not just be here a quick time and impacting the island in a bad way. Those are the kind of things that we would like to deliver to Rothblatt and Ching as to the implications of what they’re doing to our community without any substantive engagement at any level. 

Myrna Kerr: “I’m concerned because we have deer. They go back and forth. The air trip doesn’t have a fence  to keep the deer out. Also, if there’s a crash, there’s a fire and I’m just so worried about that.  I don’t want deer to be killed. I don’t want to have my house burned because there’s a crash and there was no fence.”  

Chris Dragseth: “That’s a good point because there’s two elements of this story. There’s the immediate impact on the community and what’s happening here, but then there’s also longer term impacts. I’m on the fire department board. So the implications of this from an emergency preparedness point of view are unclear at this point. Are they going to be storing fuel there or not? Now you’re talking about a wildlife corridor being compromised. So, what’s the action plan for that? That’s still outstanding.” 

Heather Ogilvy: “One of the few things I think could be done  is what was promised to us long ago. When we were discussing this airstrip (+20 years ago) –  not wanting it and the province supported us – Transport Canada came in and said, ‘we want it,’ but the stipulation was that there would be safety equipment. The first owner didn’t put it in. The present owner hasn’t. We would like safety equipment for the whole island because planes do crash. The fuel does ignite. Equipment does have sparks. We want the safety equipment.”

Cortes Currents: Could I ask what safety equipment are you talking about?  

Heather Ogilvy: “I’m not sure, exactly, that’s something we have to explore. Certainly water tanks; certainly a way to have other equipment besides waiting for the fire department to get here.”

Myrna Kerr: “What I’m terribly worried about, is they should not be able to refuel here. We can’t have fuel here, so that if there is a fire or a crash that suddenly the whole island goes up.” 

Andrea Block: “I really love waking up and hearing bird songs in the morning, or going to sleep, and not hearing planes going over. We already have sea planes in the summer. That’s horrifying. I’ve lived here on the south end for the last 32 years, and I can just imagine what it’s going to be like if the amount of air traffic increases.” 

Christine Park: “I’m a summer visitor and a summer guest. I have been for 30 years. I live in England the rest of the time and I’ve tried to live lightly on this land and I’ve tried to be a good neighbour and be sensitive to what else is going on. What I want to say to Martine is, it’s true we don’t want this to become a playground for the rich. There are so many riches here in the way we live, Martine, that money can’t buy and you can’t imagine.  Instead of coming in and doing something so selfish for yourself and your friends,  why not give us a chance to show you what it’s like to be part of this rich and wonderful community in nature.” 

Mike Manson: “We’re in a new era. It’s  the era of climate change. When you have an activity like a paved airstrip, which is going to be used for private aviation, and the keyword ‘private aviation.’ Your own plane, your own pilot. This an obscene carbon footprint to come here for your personal gratification to stay here for a month. That’s just unbelievable. On one hand, Martine Rothblatt says she’s committed to the decarbonization of aviation. That’s promoting it, in my opinion.” 

John Wooley: “I have this hunch that, like Mike said, this is the time of climate change. We could be looking at  very wealthy climate refugees. People have made decisions. It may not be a playground for the wealthy. This could be a place to wisely put yourself if you have to. It’s obviously a better life here than in Northern California or in Central Europe right now.  More will be coming.” 

Rothbatt’s project lead, Ben Ayami, quietly listened to these concerns, then responded, “First of all, I’m not a spokesperson for the owner of the airstrip or Martine, but I can speak to the facts of the project and the work that we’re doing here. There are no plans for any fuel storage on the island.  Also, to the note on carbon free aviation, there are significant investments being made into electric helicopters and planes. It’s not there, it’s coming soon, but as of now, it is carbon burning planes that could come in and out.” 

“There’s no status changing with the airstrip. It’ll remain a private runway, and it’s not being lengthened or expanded in any way for new types of planes to be able to come in.” 

Chris Dragseth: “Any expansion of length requires a public consultation.  The federal transport department  will make sure that happens. These upgrades are totally compliant with all the rules. There are no rules being broken here, just for the record. These guys are doing everything legit.” 

Ben Ayami: “Currently the runway is listed as 3090 feet by 150 feet wide. The section planned to be chip sealed is only 60 feet wide by 2, 900 feet long. So it’s actually getting shorter  and narrower by all accounts.  It’s essentially a safety upgrade so that planes can get in and out, in a safer manner than  the bumpy gravel that was the preexisting condition.”

“With that said,  it’s still a private airstrip, and we don’t foresee heavy traffic coming in and out of here. That’s not the intended use, it’s for having a safe approach when planes do come in.” 

 “I’ve also seen articles posted about Pilatus PC 24 coming in here. Aircraft like that cannot be supported by this type of runway. We don’t have the length or the structure underneath to be able to support a plane of that weight. Something like a PC 12  would need the absolute perfect conditions to come in here. PC 24 would never be able to get in. There won’t be jets coming in.”  

“I’d also like to say that the people with the means to be able to  fly in, right now they’re coming in on helicopters or float planes. I don’t think that the frequency of that would be affected. It’s just a different means of coming in essentially, but we also with this project have been trying to be mindful of environmental impacts with building a mass timber hangar that has almost zero carbon footprint, with all the timber involved in the manufacturing process of that building.”

“We’re mindful of the impact, but we are here with the goal of building this hangar  and improving the safety of the runway.”  

Michael Manson: “Could I make a recommendation? Can you put a request into Martine when the time’s right, the island gets an open house just to look at this project that we’re so upset with. Obviously, in the end, we’re going to accept it, but it sure makes it a lot nicer to know about it.  I think that might be a little starting point to build a bridge, because we know its going to get paved.”

 Ben Ayami: “I can put that request in for sure.” 

Mike Manson: “Thank you.” 

Adjami explained that the paving should be finished in about three days. 

Some of the demonstrators reiterated their opposition to the renovations, but the demonstration ended amiably and the truck was allowed to proceed.

Several people thanked Adjami for coming out to speak with them.

Links of Interest:

• What SRD Staff Found Out About The Cortes Airstrip (June 28)
• Town Hall Meeting: The Cortes Airstrip (June 5)
• Cortes Airstrip: the protest and Monday’s town hall meeting (May 30)
• Transport Canada Responds To Questions About Renovations Underway on Cortes Airstrip (May 28)
• SRD Asking Transport Canada About The Cortes Island Landing Strip (May 23)
• Neighbourhood Concerns about the ‘Cortes Airport (Jan 26, 2024)

Top image and unidentifed photos taken by Roy L Hales

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