It is nice to see Lismore starting to look forward, to look at the future through ideas and thought starters like the Living Lab in Woodlark Street.

As a community, we still have a lot to deal with in terms of house buybacks, raisings and retrofits in the years ahead but more people are now looking at how our city can reinvent itself and thrive as it did back in the 1980s. After all, it's not often you get a blank piece of paper to start again. The February 28 natural disaster has given us this, albeit at a great cost.

As part of that ongoing discussion, the Lismore App met with longtime Lismore aviation enthusiast and retired businessman David Wright this week, who shared his thoughts on creating a new precinct at the Lismore Airport that would see everyone move out of the floodplain to a new site only 900 metres to the west from where it currently sits.

David Wright owns one of the private hangars at the Lismore Airfield. David is retired now and is indulging in his hobby of flying and building his own plane.

February 28 nearly ended that dream and that of many other flying enthusiasts/business owners when all aircraft were damaged and 17 light planes were washed away in a torrent of water and destroyed, some ended up kilometres away on the Bruxner Highway. Many would have seen one wrapped around a tree for many months.

The damage was widespread with all general aviation area infrastructure damaged or destroyed including two fuel farms, one is not returning to its current location, plus the number tools and machinery that were lost.

David told the Lismore App, "We were all prepared for 1 in 100-year flood of 12 metres not a record 1 in 500-year flood."

It was time to rethink how the aviation sector in South Lismore operates. As Mike Barnes, the head of operations at Rotorwing said, "The general aviation community at large, including the current stakeholders, are unlikely to proceed with further investment at the airfield due to the inability to secure their investment and insure their business, equipment and premises."

As you drive down Airport Drive, South Lismore you will see some land on the right at the base of a hill. This is privately owned land, 153 acres, and while it may not look it, completely out of flood and available.

(The identified out-of-flood land is to the left of the photo with a house and two sheds.)

Following many hours of discussions with a lot of people Andreas Unger (Engineer with Honours) in association with David Wright, Nicholas Reese (Bachelor of Applied Science) and the Lismore Aiport Business and Aviators Association developed the Lismore Airport General Aviation Redevelopment Proposal.

Basically, the proposal is to purchase the land at the base of the hill (153 acres) and create the Lismore Airport Aviation Precinct.

The plan is to double the number of private ratepayer hangars in the new precinct thus bringing in more revenue for LCC, plus build 8 aviated-related business sheds and 11 aviation-related businesses such as flying schools, training, aircraft maintenance and engineering. There is room also for two refuelling facilities and a new home for a Historical Aircraft Museum to attract tourists as well as recreational activities like balloon flights, gliding and joy flights.

But that is not all.

The plan also includes sites to house our emergency services such as the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, SES, RFS, Air Ambulance service. Completely out of the flood zone, close to refuelling facilities and able to be launched easily into Wilsons River for rescue operations.

From the photo, it is difficult to comprehend that this area is out of the flood zone but David said, "The buildings and taxiway would be at or above 17 metres AHD."

David said the other benefits are preventing environmental pollution during flooding, removing the existing structures creating a better water flow through the floodplain and the potential use of the space for pop-up events such as airshows, markets and festivals.

There is room to build some on-site accommodation for technical staff and aircrew for the emergency services or training school pilots plus a flood-free road can be built connecting the precinct to Caniaba and Casino.

The Lismore Airport General Aviation Redevelopment Proposal identified new opportunities for the future through the likely closure of the Evans Head aerodrome after its sale to a Sydney developer, Ballina's goal of being the region's premier passenger transport airport and Casino reaching the peak of its development as nearby land has been sold to non-aviation related enterprises. According to David, Casino receives 12 enquiries per year for land for hangar sites.

What may the obstacles be for this proposal to be accepted by LCC and the majority of Councillors?

David said that farmers say the land is "rubbish land anyway" so is no good for farming operations.

There would be minimal cut & fill to establish terraced land for buildings and taxiways.

There is a koala corridor on top of the hill. "At the moment that development doesn't encroach on the existing koala habitat," David explained, "But if you did want to build a larger development in the future there is the old LCC quarry at the back of the hill that has to be remediated. Why couldn't we build a koala sanctuary and create another tourist attraction like the one out at Tucki."

The question that has raised its head in council meetings in the last couple of years is noise pollution with some residents around South and East Lismore saying the aeroplane noise is too much.

"It will be busier," David replied, "The question is do you want to have an airfield in the city? And the answer to that is, you lose your city status if you don't have an airport. I'm told that if you lose your city status then you lose a lot of grants that come with that title."

The airport has been running at a loss for Lismore City Council with current General Manager John Walker looking at how they can turn the asset around and make it profitable or close to it.

We asked Mr Walker if he has heard about the proposal and what his thoughts are.

"It's been discussed and it's been workshopped. I think it's probably likely to be included in the master plan that we haven't prepared for the airport, but it bears consideration because it would ensure that the commercial aspects of hangars, emergency services and the like would be protected from future floods. Contains access on both ends so it's worthy of consideration."

"People would be prepared to move there, you can look at new businesses that often we have talked about. We're looking at the museum that's at Evans Head, all those things are capable of going there and I think if you had the runway which is an excellent runway with flood-free land, guaranteed flood-free land, with connectivity and access to Caniaba and Three Chain Road, which is already provided for in road reservations, then it makes some sense, but obviously, a bit of work to do beforehand."

There is no doubt it is early days in the future development of the reborn city of Lismore but the important element is that people are starting to have conversations as to what is possible in the years ahead. These conversations lead to plans which lead to the first steps of a vision for Lismore and that is something to be excited about after a very dark year.