I'm not sure why they can't release the deficiencies to the public.
It has nothing to do with can't, but rather won't since that runs counter to their interests of closing the airport. Several things might happen if it was know what needs to be done. First the shareholders in phase one could elect to fund the issues themselves. Second it would be very revealing that Mr. Medd and his manager have been derelict in their duties. The document may well be grounds for several law suits against the Okotoks Air Ranch General Partners. Its also probable that the fixes cited by TC may be of the trivial nature, I have no doubts many of them are since I sat in the last time the airport was audited and there were no insurmountable issues then. One problem in that regard is just plain inexperience and incompetence, multiple times lots of money has been spent on high priced consultants (notably in the past one who had worked for the Calgary Airport Authority) who's solutions and experience reflect large scale airport operations rather than small scale. Little airports don't run like international ones, 'nuff said. One problem my experiences with TC's auditing process is you don't want to promise something that you can't do, which had happened many times, so if they are in non-compliance, then its their own doing.
On the note of specific issues...
Taxiway bravo already has signage. But their is a simpler solution, and that's to do like they did with taxiway alpha. Call it apron area. Aprons don't need signage or marking, the only new marks that would have to be emplaced would be some amber reflectors at the exit onto the grass, and a Runway 16 sign on the entry from it. I sort of doubt this breaks the bank.
The idea that wildlife has increased is a flat out lie. It has decidedly decreased. Since there is now houses where there was hay field, the geese no longer walk across the runway from the ponds to eat seed in the field. In fact less birds are in the pond, since they much prefer the water traps at the nearby golf course, where grass seed is plentiful for them to eat. There are no coyotes on the grounds no more, houses have been built where all the dens used to be. While deer will be a constant problem they are not a huge one. Definitely not worthy of the airport manager's proposed solution to terminate them all. There are no more deer at Okotoks than any other airport. If Okotoks should be closed due to deer, then so should most of the airports in the province. The real problem here is that the management promised a huge unwieldly wildlife control plan, and TC is making them keep their promise.
Full time management has been offered to the airport from the commercial operators that were on the field, for the paltry cost of reducing their rents and user fees. The management repeatedly rebuffed these offers, and instead saw fit to hire the current manager, who had been busy making the place unfriendly. The landing fees and PPR rules are unwieldly and onerus. It should be noted that the school left the primarily because when the lease came up just over a year ago, the management refused to sign one for any time longer than a year. Squelching off your main revenue streams for a business hardly seems like a good idea if you're really interested in keeping it going, but the short lease terms certainly indicate to me that there was no interest in keeping the field open.
