Airport business park moving forward in Clearview Township

Airport business park moves forward A plan to build a new business park is flying forward near a Clearview airport. CTV Barrie’s Mike Walker has more.

A multi-million dollar plan to turn farmland into an aviation business park is a step closer to taking off.

Clearview council has approved a draft plan for the business park, which would be located right next door to the Collingwood Regional Airport.   The developer wants to attract industries to serve the growing commercial air sector.

"To get through this part of the planning process identifies to the rest of the industry that this is moving forward," says Paul Bonwick of Clearview Aviation. "Like manufacturing, refurbishing and repair businesses. Typically support services for the larger aviation hubs like Pearson."

The mayor says this could be a huge economic driver and create up to 450 full-time aviation related jobs.

"It's a very large tax base for us, but the biggest part is about creating jobs. People need jobs and the ones who move here want to work here," says Mayor Christopher Vanderkruys.

Before they break ground, they still need to sign off on some more details with Clearview Township and with the Town of Collingwood to build a link from the business park to the runway.

There is still some major planning and approvals required, including infrastructure and an agreement with Collingwood to link the runway to the business park.