A newer, bigger home for the Canadian Museum of Flight is a step closer to reality following a Langley Township council decision that approved a $15,000 engineering study of the proposal.
The study, “to review and determine the the feasibility and cost implications of the requested relocation with respect to both capital site servicing and long term operational [costs]” was approved during a special closed-door meeting of council on Monday.
A Township staff report shows the museum plans to build its new home west of its current site in the Langley Regional Airport.
The museum would be located on Fraser Highway, near the eastern property line of the Derek Doubleday Arboretum.
At 60,000 square feet, the new facility would be several times bigger than the current 7,000 square foot space, considered inadequate to house the growing collection of historical aircraft.
A preliminary estimate puts the cost of the new building at $2 million.
All the costs of construction and the relocation of the many classic aircraft will be borne by the museum, the report states.
It will take about three years to raise the money, the museum believes.
Because the property is within the Agricultural Land Reserve, the provincial Agricultural Land Commission will have to approve the non-farm use.
According to the report, the Township plans to lease the property to the museum for a dollar a year.
It currently leases its airport space for about $15,000 a year.
The museum was founded in 1977 and originally operated in Surrey.
It moved to Langley in 1996.