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Rimbey airport on the market – again

The Rimbey Airport is back on the market.
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Rimbey Airport is up for sale again. Sealed bids will be accepted until June 1. Photo source Internet

The Rimbey Airport is back on the market.

At least one potential buyer has expressed interest in purchasing the property.

Mayor Rick Pankiw said council needs to follow the rules outlined in the municipal government act and advertise the property before it can be sold.

Sealed bids will be received until 4:30 a.m. on June 1 at the Town of Rimbey administration office.

This is the third time interest has been expressed in purchasing the Rimbey Airport.

Last spring council met with Tom Schroeder from the Drayton Valley Flying club to talk about the purchase of the airport.

Schroeder said there are people living at several airports such as Okotoks, Cooking Lake, Rocky Mountain House and Wetaskiwin.

“It creates an excellent situation to have suites or homes at the airports,” said Schroeder. “They are called airparks and they may take many forms. Retirement lots are also a possibility.”

He also presented the idea of offering advanced ultralight, advanced and private/commercial flight training.

“Rimbey is not a busy airport and it has a long grassed runway which is better for training,” he said when he had met with council.

An offer of $50,000 to purchase the Rimbey airport was turned down by council a couple of years ago.

The motion to deny the offer was passed unanimously following an in-camera session at the Aug. 22, 2016 meeting.

Council opened the sealed bid during the meeting, but opted to go in-camera to discuss the issue as it was pertaining to the purchase or sale of land.

The sealed bid came from Gerald Ernst, Peter Couchman, Paul Kusch and Wayne Danser and is the second time the men have made an offer of $50,000 to purchase the property.

Mayor Rick Pankiw said the first offer was rejected because the municipal government act states town owned land needs to be appraised and advertised and put out for bids, which must be sealed and delivered to the town.

Council put a reserve bid on the property of $125,000. It has been assessed earlier at $104,600.

Pankiw said he believes council needs to look at any serious offer to purchase the airport.

“If it’s in the best interest of the taxpayers, I think council should look at it.”

He added that if the airport were sold it would free up public works employees to do more maintenance and repairs within the town limits.