[MrOilers]

Exactly. It's a long-term investment.

The city only gains (at most) $1 million per year in property taxes while that land is being used as an airport. When fully developed, it can generate $90 million in property taxes, every year forever. Hell, even if only 10% gets developed it's generating ten times what it does now.

Not to mention the increased taxes the city will be able to collect from taller downtown buildings when height restrictions are gone (something to the tune of $100,000 per year for every extra story an office building has).

And these are the profits AFTER the city sells off the land (which is worth hundreds of millions itself).

Bottom line is that land is far too valuable to Edmonton citizens to continue letting it be wasted as a low-use industrial airport land.