City seeking $1.1 million for airport work

Jake Jacobs, an airport committee member, said he has written a grant proposal for the Connect Oregon III grant program, signed into law by Gov. Ted Kulongoski in 2009.

The $1.15 million grant, if received, would be combined with about $270,000 in federal dollars, and $16,000 from the city’s coffers, to fix safety hazards on the taxiway, install taxiway lights and make space for new hangars on the south end of the main runway.

Plans for the airport

Jacobs said the taxiway is one of his bigger concerns.

“There is a bottleneck where planes come into the fueling station or are leaving the parking area. Planes coming in and taking off can bump into one another. It’s a real safety hazard at night, during bad weather and any other time,” he said.

He said the plan is to pave over a section of grass near the plane parking area, near the airport office, and create a new taxiway to runway 31.

He said that would not only help with the bottleneck issue but also create easier access for larger planes.

“Right now jets, wanting to refuel, have to make these tight corners. With this area paved through, it is a straight shot for them,” he said.

During an airport committee meeting on June 28, David Mitchell, an aviation services manager from TO Engineering in Boise, laid out a schematic proposal for the construction project.

“Their plan is actually far superior to the one we had in mind,” Jacobs said.

The committee’s plan was to connect the parking area to the existing taxiway. Jacobs said the committee hadn’t considered pushing it through to the runway.

Another area the committee thinks needs improving is lighting along the taxiway. Now, there are only reflectors.

“If a pilot lands at night he can turn on his lights and get a reflection,” Jacobs said.

Lights would make the taxiway safer during inclement weather.

The new hanger area would be built at the south end of runway 31, the airport’s main runway (there are two others).

“We want to provide the infrastructure that will allow private contractors or individuals to build T-hangars,” Jacobs said.

He said the plan is to build four hanger spaces (but not the hangars themselves) and a service road to the site.

But there is some additional work the committee was hoping to have done that will not be.

That work being the existing taxiway.

For several years the pavement has been cracking. And although the city has filled the cracks, they reform. The result is a bumpy ride for pilots taxiing to and from the runway.

Jacobs said that while the committee wants to smooth the taxiway, it’s less pressing than the other projects.

Repairing the taxiway would use most of the grant money.

Jacobs said there is nothing wrong with the asphalt other than experiencing years of weather; however, it would not pass new asphalt tests.

After testing the asphalt, Mitchell discovered that, if reconstruction started, the city would actually have to rebuild the taxiway, a much more expensive proposition.

The taxiway will be repaired in the future when other grants become available.

“We will never have enough money as a city airport to complete every project we want to complete,” Jacobs said.

Connect Oregon III Grant

The Connect Oregon III program supplies grants to communities to pay for improvements for rail, traffic and airports.

The money comes from state air and transportation taxes.

Jacobs’ goal is to use city money and a federal grant to leverage the Connect Oregon III money.

“How the grant works is the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) pays 95 percent matched by the city’s five percent,” Jacobs said.

Over the course of three years, Jacobs said, the city had saved an estimated $16,000 to use as its match.

The total amount, once the FAA money becomes available, is $287,298. With this amount the city can apply for the Connect Oregon III grant, which requires 20 percent of the total cost for airport improvements.

Baker City applied for a grant of $1,149,195. This amount, coupled with the 20 percent requirement, totals $1.4 million.

Statewide, 80 communities applied for the grant, 11 of those in Eastern Oregon.

Of the 11, eight met the required 20 percent total cost, with Baker City at No. 5 on the list.

Jacobs said while he would not know for certain until Aug. 24 if the airport will receive the grant, the committee was 95 percent certain the city will succeed.

Once the grant is received, the project will move forward with design approval and construction should begin in late spring 2011.