High sprinkler costs ground hangar plan
By Philip Raphael
South Delta Leader
praphael@southdeltaleader
Feb 16 2007
Plans to convert Boundary Bay Airport’s sole surviving hangar from the Second World War into an aviation museum is stalled on the takeoff runway.
Sandra Stoddardt-Hansen, president of airport leaseholder Alpha Aviation, told the South Delta Leader the idea proved too costly to make the 60,000-square-foot building suitable for accommodating “wet” aircraft.
Stoddardt-Hansen said a bid to fit the Delta heritage listed building—one of three that served during the airport’s role as the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the war—with a fire sprinkler system came back with a $1.8 million price tag.
The steep cost was mainly because it needed to be able to suppress a fire incident involving “wet” aircraft, those containing fuel and oil.
Stoddardt-Hansen added another reason for scuttling the plan was the concern a second, sizable flight-themed museum in the Lower Mainland could “throw the balance out” of historical collections.
Langley Airport has been home to the Canadian Museum of Flight since 1996. Prior to that the Canadian Museum of Flight and Transportation—a non-profit society since 1977—had a museum facility in Surrey.
With plans for the Boundary Bay Airport museum shelved, Alpha Aviation is looking at other possible uses for the building, keeping in mind its heritage designation prevents major changes to the structure’s appearance and use.
Still, the building is being proposed as a site for a restaurant, or support services for aviation-related businesses.
At the moment, plans are being made to move existing tenants from the hangar to new digs at the soon-to-be-completed, 40,000-square-foot maintenance facility nearby which is part of the plans for large scale re-development of the airport.
Delta Coun. Robert Campbell, chair of Delta’s airport advisory committee, said he felt the museum proposal was a long shot at best and understands Alpha Aviation’s need to make the hangar space economically viable.
Campbell added that whatever future plan for the site is chosen, he is confident the end use will be one that will bring the building up to current codes and help preserve it.
However, he thought it was unlikely that one of the past uses for the building—its incarnation as the Delta Ice Stadium from 1959 until 1971—could resurface.
“No, I think Delta is doing quite well in terms of how much ice we have compared to other communities to seriously consider that option,” Campbell said, laughing. “It’s funny how so many people’s first ice skating experience was in that building.”
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© Copyright 2007 South Delta Leader
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