A fair solution to flight-path woes

Adispute over how much the city should pay for homes that sit directly under the flight path to the increasingly busy Peterborough Airport should end with the answer to a single question:

What is fair market value for the properties? Agreeing on an answer has apparently not been so simple.

Fair market value is the price a willing buyer facing no outside pressures would reasonably pay to a willing seller also facing no outside pressures.

In the case of the city-owned airport and its noise-plagued neighbours to the east that definition requires some dissection.

The “willingness” standard is clearly met. The seven homeowners, who will press their case at city council on Tuesday, are willing to sell.

And the city is willing to buy. It has already made an offer that was rejected as too low.

Next is the issue of pressure. Are there circumstances that would force the city to pay more than fair market value, or the homeowners to accept less?

In the city’s role as purchaser the answer is no, up to this point.

However, elected politicians can be subject to the pressure of public perception. Tapping into that pressure will be one of the objectives of the homeowners when they present their case Tuesday night.

They should be cautious, however, in relying too much on public outcry to strengthen their bargaining position.

Are the homeowners under pressure to sell? They are. Peterborough is the busiest small airport in the country with more than 58,000 takeoffs and landings annually. Five years ago that number was 35,000. Ten years ago it was much lower again.

The airport is busier because the city, with help from Ottawa and Queen’s Park, invested tens of millions of dollars to expand it. A new 20-year plan recommends injecting another $48 million.

The airport will only get busier, the neighbourhood noisier. Those homes will be harder to sell and their value will drop.

That pressure already affects the “fair market value” of the homes. Under the rules of the market the city could wait the homeowners out and either get the homes at a discount, or not buy them at all.

But as a responsible corporate citizen the fair response would be to pay them what the homes would be worth today if the airport was still operating at flight levels it experienced a decade ago.

Arriving at fair market value then becomes simple. Each side hires an appraiser with instructions to set a price based on flight totals before the expansion. The city pays the average of the two appraisals. Done.

If that’s the price the city has already offered the homeowners should accept it. If not, get the process underway.