Airport of the future

Members of a local board got a glimpse of what the future might look light for the Portland Municipal Airport.
Mike Evans of Woolpert Inc. presented preliminary drawings Wednesday of how the airport could look in the next 10 to 20 years.
The drawings include a new terminal building, a new fuel farm (fueling station), new t-hangars, a new apron and executive hangars.
Board members reviewed the drawings Wednesday afternoon, discussed the four phases of the project and decided that they want to move forward with designing a new fueling station.
Design work for phase one — which includes the new fueling station, a new 60-foot by 60-foot terminal building and the apron — could begin as early as next year.
The possible new layout for the airport will be included in the airport’s capital improvement program (CIP), which is a plan for the airport for the next five years. Board members will review the final draft of the CIP at the next meeting.
The airport work would be done in phases, on land currently owned by the airport, Evans said after the meeting. He expects to have cost estimates for the projects at the next aviation meeting.
Board president Glynn Barber said he feels the airport needs a new terminal building and a new layout to attract clientele. “If you want to attract professionals you need professional,” he said.
Evans said having the maintenance building attached to the terminal building is a nuisance for visiting pilots, mostly due to noise.
The existing terminal building is about 50 years old, Barber said. He said that even though the runway and taxiway extension projects have not yet taken off, he feels improving the layout of the airport is still necessary. He said accomplishing the extension projects is still a goal for the aviation board.
Evans suggested during the meeting that board members continue to pursue the land purchases needed for the runway and taxiway extension projects. He said the land should be acquired as early as possible in 2011.
Board members want to extend both the runway and taxiway west by 1,000 feet. The goal of the extensions is to attract larger aircraft to the airport.
In other business Wednesday, Barber announced that the city had just received a response to a proposed agreement with Dave Miller, who is operating his business, Miller Aviation, at the airport.
Miller said this morning that he signed a lease about eight years ago to rent the land on which he built a hangar. The agreement was for him to pay $200 per year. Miller said he recently was told by city officials that the lease is invalid because it was not approved by the Portland City Council.
Miller said the city gave him a new lease agreement to sign, but it did not include a lease amount. Also, as part of the lease, the city is asking for financial statements for his business. Miller said he doesn’t feel it is fair for him to be required to submit those documents, and he declined to sign the lease because the lease amount was not listed.
Barber said this morning that he has not yet read Miller’s response to the proposed lease.
Miller said this morning that he would be glad to sign the lease if the price is reasonable and is not required to provide business financial statements. He wants to build onto the hangar to make an office for his business.
Also Wednesday, board members:
•Voted to paint the maintenance hangar, install lights to illuminate the flagpole and fill in a low area at the fuel pumping station at a total cost of $6,690.
Minnich Architecture and Construction, Portland, will paint the walls of the maintenance hangar. Brewster Electric will install lights to illuminate the flagpole and flags and install a drainage tile to improve drainage near the pole.
Fullenkamp Machine will fill in a low area around the fuel pumps. Airport manager Hal Tavzel said that the area around the pumps was intentionally made 8 inches lower so airplane wings would not hit the pumps. However, people who have been walking in the low area have been falling, he said. Fullenkamp will fill in the area with temporary metal planks.
•Learned that fuel sales in November were $1,570.98, and $1,746.97 between Dec. 1 and Dec. 14.
•Approved monthly claims of $926.88.
•Voted to add a line item in the 2011 airport budget for someone to pump jet fuel when the airport is closed.
This person, whom has not yet been hired, would be paid $20 per call, whenever Tavzel is not able to pump the fuel. The city will budget $1,000 for this person.
•Approved two engineering invoices from Woolpert Inc. One is for the taxiway reconstruction project and another is for the terminal building design. The city’s portion of these bills is $369.58 for the taxiway work and $221.25 for the terminal building design. The rest of the costs will be paid by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Indiana Department of Transportation.
•Voted to allow rural Portland resident Dave Schrock to rent 26.28 acres of farmland at the airport at a cost of $100 per acre for one year.
The board also received a bid from Barry Miller to rent the ground at a cost of $95 per acre.[[In-content Ad]]