Roessner wants to build hangar

A local pilot is interested in building a new hangar at Portland Municipal Airport.
Jeff Roessner of Fort Recovery visited Wednesday’s Portland Board of Aviation meeting to discuss the possibility of building a hangar to store his plane and provide an area for pilot training.
The board also approved a new contract for airport manager Hal Tavzel, heard an update on the long-term plan for the facility and approved several repairs.
Roessner explained that his plane had sat dormant for several years until Tavzel contacted him a few months ago inquiring about the possibility of using it for flight training.
“I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with it, quite frankly,” said Roessner. “I didn’t know if I was going to keep it. I didn’t know what was going to happen. So I was excited that he called.”
Since then the airport has begun providing lessons to seven students. They logged 20 hours in the air in July.
One of those students is his son Jason, a Fort Recovery High School junior. And he noted that his daughter Jill, Jason’s twin, is also interested in flying and that one of his older sons is already a pilot.
Because of his family’s interest and the fact that the plane is now in use, Roessner would like to have his own hangar at the airport rather than continuing to rent space.
He proposed building a 40-by-44-foot hangar — the current airport layout plan calls for a 40-by-40-foot hangar, but that could be changed — to house the plane and also include a flight training area and restrooms with the possibility of adding offices in the future. He also inquired about the availability of water, sewer and electrical service to the hangar and rights for renting the hangar in the future. (Typically ownership of hangars reverts to the city after 25 years, and Roessner said he’d like his family to have the right of first refusal to rent the facility at that time.)
Availability of utilities should not be a problem, board president Mike McKee told Roessner, saying he will also supply him with a copy of a standard hangar lease agreement and then additional details can be negotiated.
“We’d certainly like to do what we can to work with you,” said McKee “The more this airport grows the better off we all are. … We’re all for it.”
Roessner’s proposal continues a year that has seen a flurry of activity toward expansion at the airport, including a January announcement approving a runway extension to 5,500 feet. Lutheran Air signed an agreement in June to base one of its helicopters in Portland, and local firms Sonrise Aviation and Walker Aviation have expressed interest in growing their operations at the airport with possible construction of new hangars.

Board members Dick Baldauf, John Lyons and McKee, absent Jim Runkle, also approved a new contract for Tavzel, who has served as the airport’s manager since April 2010. They decided to increase his salary to $30,000 per year, up from $26,000, effective Oct. 2.
“You’ve done a really good job,” said McKee. “You’ve done a lot of work. You were instrumental in the Lutheran contract. … We would like to bump your compensation just as a show of faith in your abilities and your leadership.”
Jason Clearwaters of engineering firm Butler, Fairman and Seufert updated the board on the status of the airport’s long-term plan.
Included in the plan is the runway extension to 5,500 feet from the current 4,000 as well as a goal of eventually widening it to 100 feet from the current 75. There are also plans for additional hangars and a new taxi lane.
Clearwaters hopes to have the plan complete for the board’s September meeting and then submit it to the Federal Aviation Administration for approval.
“The important thing to remember is, to get a grant for any project from the FAA it has to be on the approved airport layout plan,” he said.
Board members also approved repairs by T.J.’s Concrete of Portland for a concrete pad in front of the maintenance hangar at a cost of $3,280 and All-American Door of Muncie for a hangar door at a cost of $2,314.80. The concrete damage has been jarring planes as they travel in and out of the hangar, Tavzel said.
“It’s been an issue here. We’ve kind of put it off and it’s getting worse,” he said. “I feel like it needs to be addressed. We’ve got some expensive planes going in there and I don’t want anything getting damaged.”
In other business, the board:
•Agreed to allow Tavzel to sign off on purchases up to $1,500 without board approval. The previous limit was $500.
•Was reminded by McKee that a Portland Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, during which an airport variance request will be considered, is scheduled for 5 p.m. tonight. The board has requested permission to use a trailer at the airport as a temporary workspace for Lutheran Air employees until renovations to a breezeway are complete.
•Heard from Tavzel that the airport sold 6,096 gallons of fuel in July for a total of $26,826.13.
•Paid claims totaling $4,740.34.