A hotly debated plan to allow home construction closer to Winnipeg’s airport has divided a council committee, following concerns that could trigger noise complaints and put airport operations at risk.

On Monday, council’s property and development committee cast a 2-2 vote on the matter, a tie that means the proposal will head to the executive policy committee on April 28 with no recommendation.

Couns. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) and Matt Allard (St. Boniface) sided with city staff in rejecting a call to amend Winnipeg’s Airport Vicinity Protection Plan (AVPA). The amendment would allow multi-family buildings to be built in the Polo Park area, including at the site of the former Canad Inns Stadium.

“This will just start eroding this airport protection zone,” said Mayes, the committee’s chairman. “You really want to be very cautious about putting that at risk. That’s a very big part of the economy.”

Couns. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) and Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) voted in favour of the planning change, though Rollins expressed concern about making an exception to normal city rules.

The AVPA currently imposes severe restrictions on residential construction in the area. Lukes believes the substantial new development could be built without harming airport operations, noting new technology has reduced plane noise.

“This is over a billion dollars’ worth of development that I think, probably even more so going forward, is critical. With the advancements of aviation… I felt that we could have both,” said Lukes.

City staff and the Winnipeg Airports Authority (WAA) oppose the change, due to concerns the new residents would make frequent noise complaints that threaten the airport’s 24-hour operations.

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