Baker airport is ready for more hangars

By TERRI HARBER
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Improvements to the Baker City Municipal Airport are complete.

The project adds taxiway lighting to the main strip for safer aircraft landings; creates less cumbersome, paved access from the taxiway to parking and fuel pumps; provides pavement, electricity and some infrastructure for more hangars to be built on the south side of the facility; and, secures the hangar area with a gate and security code system.
 

Next for the 396-acre airport is more hangar space. A small number of recreational pilots are waiting for hangar space though no leases are pending, said Michelle Owen, the city’s public works director.

People interested in seeing the facility become more economically oriented hope that some industrial occupants or even an air shuttle service could be lured to the airport.

The city received nearly $1.48 million to make the facility more accessible to all pilots and more attractive to those flying larger aircraft.

A substantial grant from the state provided $1.1 million for the improvements.

Operators of air, rail, marine and transit projects around the state compete for Connect Oregon III funding that comprised much of the work budget. This money is to strengthen and improve the transportation system statewide, area by area.

Doing so will “better integrate the components of the system” and “improve flow of commerce,” according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The city put in roughly $16,000 and the Federal Aviation Administration matched that contribution with $315,000.

The airport is part of the county’s enterprise zone. The site itself is a few miles outside the city on unincorporated Baker County land and outside the city’s urban growth area.

Up to 20 acres are available for hangar construction now that the airport upgrade is complete. The idea is to see 15 more constructed — 10 T-shaped and five box-shaped — said Jake Jacobs, chairman of the city’s airport commission and business advisor with the Baker Small Business Development Center.

“We’re ready,” Jacobs said.

William Harvey proposes to build some new hangars and is looking for potential lessees before moving forward with specific plans. 
It’s not likely that anyone would break ground on new hangars until next spring, however, Jacobs and Owen both say.

There are 25 hangars of various sizes already there.

REASON BEHID PROJECT
The newly completed upgrades make the airport easier for larger aircraft — whether corporate, personal or even shuttles — to take off and land.

This provides better conditions for conducting airport-specific activities and complements the existing industrial park as well as other businesses countywide, even within the region.

This is the economic need in the Baker area that the airport can best fulfill, Owen said.

The airport doesn’t provide the city with a great deal of direct revenue, but the money helps to keep up the facility which, in turn, helps the local economy. During the fiscal year that ended June 30, the fuel purchasing tax (known as the flow fee) generated about $6,400; ground leases earned more than $5,000; and, hangar leases brought in roughly $12,000, according to the city’s finance department.

The flow fee increased to 10 cents a gallon during the 2008-09 fiscal year from 4 cents a gallon.

Large planes could require 100 gallons of fuel or more. This would bring some more revenue to the city, Jacobs said.

The lack of potable water is an obstacle, however.  A large factory or any operation that would use large quantities of water would have to construct a well and septic system because no city water and sewer lines travel to and from the airport.

This is the “biggest barrier” to large-scale industrial development at the airport because constructing the necessary lines  would be expensive, Owen said.

Airport offices have water and sanitary accommodations, as well as an array of other services for pilots and visitors.

Aircraft runways were first laid down outside the city in 1927. The airport was used for training during World War II. There are many small airports around Oregon that were constructed to foster military readiness, but Baker City’s airport offers some features these don’t, Jacobs said.

Agencies that conduct predator control operations often fly in and out. Angel Flight, a volunteer-operated medical service founded by aviation hobbyists, uses it. It also accommodates some small fire-fighting aircraft.

The fixed base operator, Baker Aircraft, sells aircraft fuels. It also provides flight instruction, and offers aircraft maintenance, rentals and charters.

There are three runways so pilots can approach and depart in six different directions, depending on the weather and wind direction.

Visit the airport’s website for information and available services:
www.bakercityairport.com.