Image: Valley Helicopters / A helicopter belonging to Valley Helicopters is pictured. The company has been at its current location in Hope since 1991.
Fraser Valley Regional District

FVRD board to consider 5-year lease renewal with longtime local helicopter company at Hope airpark

Jan 28, 2025 | 11:00 AM

CHILLIWACK — The Fraser Valley Regional District board will consider a motion at its meeting this week to renew a five-year lease agreement with a longtime helicopter company operating out of the Fraser Valley Regional Airpark in Hope.

According to the text of agenda item 11.3, FVRD staff are recommending that FVRD board members approve a five-year lease renewal with Valley Helicopters Ltd. The hangar land lease for Valley Helicopters expired October 31, 2024.

Valley Helicopters Ltd. describes itself as a charter helicopter operator providing services to Southern British Columbia and Western Canada. It operates an impeccably maintained fleet of Bell light and intermediate helicopters from bases in Hope, Merritt and Kamloops. Fred Fandrich, the founder of Valley Helicopters, launched his helicopter career in 1968 in Northern Canada as an engineer/pilot at Klondike Helicopters on the Bell 47. Fred Fandrich founded Valley Helicopters Ltd. in 1985, moving to its current location on Flood Hope Road in 1991. Valley Helicopters currently operates with one Bell 206L4, three Bell 206 Jet Rangers and two Bell 407s

The Fraser Valley Regional Airpark, located about five kilometers west of the town of Hope, is situated on approximately 106 acres. Besides the turf runway, the airpark consists of a flight centre building featuring a public lounge area, an observation deck, Wi-Fi and washrooms; it also contains rental tie-down areas that can accommodate approximately eight aircraft, fuel dispensing facilities for certain aircraft, and gliding membership and lessons available from airpark tenant Vancouver Soaring Association.

FVRD wrote in its staff report that flights landing at the airpark are typically reserved for recreational purposes, emergencies for ambulance and firefighting crews, and for industry like logging and pipeline transportation sector employees.

FVRD staff completed a market appraisal for the lease lands and suggested a fair market rate of $2.65 per square meter, meaning Valley Helicopters would pay $2,683.31 a year plus GST at the start of the five-year lease.

The staff report noted that the proposed 5-year lease acknowledges that Valley Helicopters has been a tenant of the airpark for a number of years, and recommends that the fair market lease rate of $2.65 per square meter be phased in over the life of the five year agreement from November 1, 2024 through October 31, 2029, with a plan to evaluate the lease rates again at that time. This arrangement mirrors the same framework which was put in place for other lease holders who have been recently renewed.

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