County forwards airport plan to feds

Douglas County commissioners approved forwarding airport master and layout plans to the Federal Aviation Administration 3-2, despite the likelihood that some of the $35.5 million in proposed improvements may never be built.

"This project includes a very optimistic level of FAA funding," Commissioner Jim Baushke said. "Federal funding for airport improvements is going down and down drastically. This is a very ambitious laundry list, and I would be amazed if we get half of it built."

Commission chairman Kelly Kite agreed with Baushke on funding.

"This is a master plan, not a master manifesto," Kite said. "Just because we have a plan doesn't mean it's going to be done. We're not encouraging big aircraft to come by any way, shape or form. I have no idea how we're going to pay for that."

The plan depends on $27 million in federal funding to improve the east of the airport and realign the runways.

Commissioners Baushke and Nancy McDermid joined Kite in voting for the plan. Commissioners Doug Johnson and David Brady opposed it.

About three dozen people attended the four-hour meeting at one point or another, however, only a dozen remained to see commissioners take action on the plan which required two years and $375,000 to prepare.

Consultant Peter Van Pelt told commissioners the heart of the plan was the Airport Layout Plan which will be submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration for review and eventual approval.

Van Pelt said it will take at least six months for the FAA to return the plan to the county with corrections.

Residents objected to the plan's approval, pointing out that airport use projections included expansion of the airport's east side as a gliding and sport aviation center, but did not include a 100-hangar development on the west side of the airport that has already been approved and has already begun construction.

A lease for the Pinon Aero project was approved in 2001.

Early on in the meeting the chairmen of the Airport Advisory Committee and the Airport Master Plan Working Group spoke to county commissioners.

"We OK'd the plan and recommend it," Advisory Committee Chairman Mike Bradford said. "All of us have concerns about the plan. Perhaps it was done so well that no one is really happy."

Working Group Chairman Fred La Sor said the plan does not call for expansion of the airport.

"The plan does not project massive airport growth," he said.

Van Pelt said the airport is currently in good shape and that it is nowhere near its capacity.

He described plans for the east side of the airport, which include a takeoff and landing field for gliders and facilities comparable to those currently on the west side of the airport.

"The master plan provides a world-class facility for gliders and sport aircraft," he said. "Not many airports operate gliders at this magnitude."

Gliders make up the second most common operation at the airport with an estimated 30,800 flights in 2005. Single engine aircraft were the most common user at the airport with 36,960 flights in 2005, according to the plan. Jets logged 5,267 flights during the same year.

Opponents felt moving gliders over to the east side of the airport would accommodate its use by jets.

Pilot Jim Herd said he expected the plan to protect and preserve the airport's rural character.

"The reason for all the extreme public dissent is that they don't see the county protecting and preserving the airport," he said. "People don't want radical change at the airport."

Herd pointed out that he did not oppose growth at the airport.

"In certain areas we intend to grow certain types of aircraft," he said of the plans for the glider center.

Vanguard Coalition member Jennifer Ware denied that opposition to the airport plan was about Pinon Aero, but that the development was a concrete example of what could happen.

"Pinon Aero manifests in the detail of what we fear could happen at the airport," she said.

Both consultants and county officials expressed doubt that Pinon Aero would be able to rent all its hangars in seven years, as the developer predicted.

In addition to the inclusion of Pinon Aero, opponents sought an environmental study of the entire plan and the removal of the P3 Orion as a critical aircraft.

Van Pelt said that the Orion represents some large fire tankers that would be flown out of the airport.

He said environmental assessments will have to be done before each project because they are only good for three years.

- Kurt Hildebrand can be reached at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215.