ANMC Minutes - December 2024

Meeting Date/Time: 5 December 2024, 1300H-1500H
Meeting Location: Online (Microsoft Teams)
In Attendance
Chair:	Wendy Avis	Director, Climate and Environment - YVRAA
Secretariat:	Rachel Min-Brown	Environmental Analyst - YVRAA
Participants:	Alex Konowalchuk Graeme Bant Arvind Sharma Howard Jampolsky Kevin Eng Ron Sorensen Jacqueline Hunter Terry Hiebert Brenden McBain Mark Cheng	Citizen Representative - City of Delta Staff Representative - City of Delta Citizen Representative - City of Richmond Citizen Representative - City of Richmond Staff Representative - City of Richmond Citizen Representative - City of Surrey Staff Representative - City of Vancouver Float Plane Operators Association Manager, Climate and Environment - YVRAA Supervisor, Noise Abatement & Air Quality - YVRAA
Guest:	Salia Ahrabian	Manager, Airside Engineering Projects - YVRAA

1.0 Welcome and Introduction

Wendy Avis welcomed attendees and acknowledged the unceded, ancestral, traditional territory of the Musqueam Nation on which YVR operates.

Salia Ahrabian, Manager Airside Engineering Projects, was introduced as a guest. Howard Jampolski advised his term as a Richmond citizen representative would end at the end of 2024.

2.0 Land Developments

As background information, Mark Cheng discussed the amendments to the YVR 2037 Land Use Plan that were formally approved by the Minister of Transport in February 2022. The YVR Land Use Plan designates areas on the airport for specific types of uses and serves as a guide for development in Sea Island.
The amendments were proposed to allow the Airport Authority to unlock development opportunities on Sea Island to benefit the community and the economy that supports it, and the key changes included:

Deferral of a Third Parallel Runway
Due to the downturn in traffic, a third runway is not anticipated to be required for several decades. The amendment enables the Airport Authority to make productive use of the lands within the footprint of the proposed South Parallel Runway in the interim.
Airside Development at Airport South
This amendment permits, in principle, airside development on land previously set aside for the potential third parallel runway at Airport South. This change will enable revenue diversification from development of Sea Island land assets until such time as a runway may be required.
Cargo and Logistics Development on the Northlands
This amendment enables the Airport Authority to develop the Northlands for groundside warehouse and logistics uses, supporting our core airport function and fulfilling our role as a Gateway to the New Economy by bringing to market large, well-located industrial land parcels which are in short supply in the region.

These amendments allowed the Airport Authority to develop plans for Airport South to support the anticipated expanded need for air cargo, and to consolidate existing cargo operations from less practical areas of the airfield. The five-year South Airport Cargo Development Project was created to support these plans and includes several critical airside and groundside infrastructure projects.

Mark introduced Salia Ahrabian, Manager, Airside Engineering Projects, who has overall responsibilities for the South Airport Cargo Development Project, to provide updates on current work.

Salia presented on various ongoing projects, including the construction of new taxiways, connecting the south runway to Airport South, apron expansions, and groundside work to realign Inglis Drive.

As the South Airport Cargo Development Project would change the nature of aircraft ground operations in the area, further updates will be provided to the ANMC as engineering work progresses and information on anticipated operational changes become available.

3.0 Airport Updates

Wendy provided the following general updates to the Committee:

Between January and October 2024, about 22 million passengers travelled through YVR, a 5% increase compared to the same period in 2023. The number of aircraft movements increased by 2% compared to the previous year.
YVR has launched the Low Carbon Jet Fuel incentive program, which will help offset the cost of low carbon jet fuel purchased by air carriers flying from BC airports. The program is supported by the Province under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations and will continue through the end of 2026.
Tamara Vrooman, President and CEO, delivered a keynote address to the business community hosted by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. In her presentation, she illustrated how YVR plays a critical role as an innovation hub, a hub for adoption and promotion of forms of alternative energy, and an evolving intermodal transportation hub.
Public announcement about the North Runway Modernization Program was made in October – www.yvr.ca/northrunway. Work plans to support this project were presented and discussed with the ANMC at previous meetings.

4.0 Noise Management Plan & 2025 Work Plan

Rachel Min-Brown reviewed and provided updates on work to create the new YVR Noise Management Plan.

At the ANMC meeting on 26 September 2024, the draft initiative list that was going to be included in the new YVR Noise Management Plan was shared with the ANMC for discussion and comments. The list, developed from input received from ANMC members and from the general community through an online survey, included supporting initiatives in 12 key focus areas.

The draft Noise Management Plan and the initiative list were approved by YVR Executives in November, and work is ongoing to create a public facing document.

As next steps, the final document will be submitted to Transport Canada for their review. Once accepted by Transport Canada, the new Noise Management Plan and supporting materials will be posted on the YVR website.

Mark advised that while the new Noise Management Plan is being reviewed by Transport Canada, 2025 work plans for the YVR Noise Management Program will include the following:

A review and update of noise management information materials on the YVR website.
Continued support for NAV CANADA’s Vancouver Airspace Modernization Project.
Identifying new locations to support the relocation and deployment of noise monitoring terminals.

5.0 Q4 Summary

Rachel presented the summary of noise concerns received between January 1 and November 15, 2024. A total of 1,013 concerns were registered by 190 individuals during this time.

6.0 Other Business

AAAE/ACI-NA Noise Conference
Airport Authority staff attended the annual airport noise conference hosted by the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) in partnership with Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA). The conference covers various topics in airport noise management, such as mitigation, research updates, and community engagement and provides a forum to share knowledge, experience, and lessons learned.

2025 South Runway Maintenance Schedule
The 2025 south runway maintenance schedule is currently being reviewed. When the schedule is finalized, it will be shared with the ANMC and posted on the YVR website to provide advanced notification of irregular runway operations to the community - https://www.yvr.ca/en/about-yvr/noise-management/south-runway-maintenance-schedule.

2025 Meeting Dates
The ANMC meetings in 2025 are scheduled for March 6, September 11, and December 4. ANMC members expressed interest in hosting one of these meetings in person.

MEETING ADJOURNMENT

Wendy thanked the attendees for their time and adjourned the meeting at 1425H.

Next Regular ANMC Meeting: March 6, 2025