City council in Courtenay, B.C. has killed a controversial bridge construction project that would have closed Courtenay Airpark. Airport supporters crammed into Courtenay’s council chambers last Monday in a show of support for the facility. City mayor Larry Jangula convinced his council to pass his motion, effectively killing the proposal.

This leaves airport leases as the outstanding issue. Initial reports were that all lessees were to move to a month-to-month lease at the end of their current contracts. Courtenay Airpark Association representative Dave Mellin was quoted by local media as saying, “Jobs and job security are on the line. There’s a lot of people that are not sleeping well at night…A five-year lease is of no value to people who want to do business down there. One of the businesses was planning to hire 15 more people. That’s huge.”

However, the town’s Chief Administrative Officer David Allen says that the intention is only to align the expiration/renewal dates of all users. Only five leases are currently affected.