"Arizona's Williams Gateway Airport sidesteps ghost town fears"

Wednesday, December 20, 2000

Ex-base sidesteps ghost town fears
New terminal holds the key to makeover, multiple uses
By Chris Fiscus
The Arizona Republic


It has been seven years since "Willie" packed his bags and left town.

As the last of the planes pulled away from Williams Air Force Base, Mesa
faced the uncertainty of trying to replace a key part of its identity. More
than 3,500 jobs were tied to the 52-year-old pilot training base.

"It was just shock, from the City Council to the Congressional delegation to
the Governor's Office. It was just amazement," recalled Wayne Balmer, Mesa's
planning director at the time. The big question being asked by everyone:
What will happen to it now?

Plenty.

Today, some of the former base still is in dire need of a face lift. Parts
still look drab, lifeless. Yet what many feared would become a dusty carcass
is home to thousands of jobs, college students studying everything from
flying to mortuary science, and the sounds of airplanes.

A $3 million, 24,000-square-foot passenger terminal will be finished this
month with four gates, three ticket counters, even rental car counters. The
terminal could be the key in attracting passenger airlines to Williams
Gateway Airport, launched by Mesa on about 3,000 acres of the former
military base.

Williams Gateway handles 200,000 takeoffs and landings a year - from small
airplanes to cargo planes and military fighters needing fuel - and could
grow within 20 years into a reliever airport for Sky Harbor with an
estimated 2 million passengers a year.

In the next few years, a $27 million infusion from Proposition 301, the
successful tax increase plan for education passed last month by voters, will
fund improvements at the Arizona State University East campus at the former
base.

Base outlived usefulness

Balmer said the beginning of the end of the base near Power and Ray roads
was in 1987, "although we didn't know it at the time."

The Air Force paid a visit to chat about studying Williams and the West
Valley's Luke Air Force Base. They later would look at noise levels, nearby
property values and housing development headed toward the bases.

What was happening was that the military was starting to meet to discuss
base realignments.

Williams survived the first round of cuts in 1989 but landed on the list in
a second round in 1991.

By fall 1993, it was closed. When Williams survived the first round, Balmer
said, "We thought it was safe."

Despite the disappointment, even he understood the rationale. It was a 1941
facility, sitting near prime housing development real estate. "Nobody could
fault their logic," he said. "What they basically said was the base outlived
its usefulness to the Air Force - and maybe to the city."

Suddenly, there was the question of what to do with 4,000 acres of buildings
and roads and land. Rebirth of many abandoned military facilities often are
mired in controversy, hurt by lack of resources and squabbling among cities
and politicians, he said.

An advisory board looked at how to reuse the base and that was key, said
Lynn Kusy, executive director of Williams Gateway Airport Authority, the
body that oversees the airport.

The state pulled together various leaders to figure out what could be done.

Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek and the Gila River Indian Community joined a
partnership to launch the civilian airport, and they contribute a total of
$4 million a year for operations. The communities are banking on the airport
becoming a major source of money and jobs.

On the education side, ASU East and various community colleges moved in and
use the base for badly needed classrooms.

Today, there are about 2,500 jobs linked to the site and about 4,000
students use the campus. Manufacturers test aircraft like the Boeing 777 at
the airport. America West uses it for pilot training.

Plans for resuscitating the closed base weren't just pipe dreams, Kusy said.
"It really has happened."

$30 million-plus spent

More than $30 million has been spent to renovate the base.

One runway was reconstructed and others were repaired. New lighting was
added to the runways and taxiways. Buildings were repaired. A half dozen
were demolished. New roads are being built. A new hanger and other buildings
sprouted.

And there's the new one-story passenger terminal. No passenger airline has
signed up to use Williams Gateway yet, but airport leaders have made their
pitch to about 20 airlines. The airport is targeting carriers not using Sky
Harbor, including charter airlines, and having a terminal could be the
linchpin.

In recent years, Kusy said, airlines executives looked at plans and drawings
and said, " 'Gee, sounds real nice but come back and see us when you have a
terminal.' "

Now that the terminal is a reality, Williams Gateway officials again are
making the rounds. Kusy sees the airport as a reliever to Sky Harbor, much
like the airport in places such as Orange County, Calif., are to Los Angeles
International Airport.

Small aircraft already use Williams Gateway. So do military transport and
fighter planes needing to be refueled. And the airport agreed to be home to
a cargo company that will fly auto parts out of Williams Gateway several
times a week.

FYI

Businesses that moved into the former Williams Air Force Base include:

Twenty aviation-related companies.

Three of the companies - Armstrong Labs, Native American Air Ambulance, and
Boeing - employ more than 1,200 people.

AmSafe, a manufacturer of such things as airbags tucked inside of aircraft
seatbelts, soon will hire about 200.

The U.S. Marshals Service.

Arizona State University East. With a projected enrollment of more than
20,000 students by 2015, ASU East has more than 2,000 students enrolled.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Embry-Riddle offers associate,
bachelor and master's degree programs including graduate degrees in
Aeronautical Science and Business Administration in Aviation.

Chandler-Gilbert Community College. Its Aviation & Technology Center is a
partner with the University of North Dakota in offering aviation studies.

Mesa Community College's Fire Sciences Program.

Williams Gateway Airport already handles more than 200,000 takeoffs and
landings a year.


Source: Mesa

Attached Photo: Lynn Kusy, executive director of Williams Gateway Airport
Authority, said the airport's new passenger terminal is expected to draw
passenger airlines not using Phoenix Sky Harbor.

kusy.jpg