"Augusta airport halts renovation plan"

Thursday, February 13, 2003

Airport halts renovation plan
Budgets force aviation panel to cut scope of work
By Preston Sparks
The Augusta (GA) Chronicle


Citing a lack of state and federal funding because of the Sept. 11 attacks,
the Augusta Regional Airport Aviation Commission voted Thursday to
re-evaluate its master plan - effectively tossing the airport's future into
the air.

The vote, which was unanimous, put the brakes on a proposed $64 million
midfield terminal that was approved by the commission in August 2001.

"With everything that's going on in our country today ... I would think that
we would be crazy to want to pursue an airport (terminal) the magnitude of
$64 million," aviation commission member Sheila Paulk said.

The aviation commissioners agreed that the airport's terminal is in poor
condition and has to be replaced to attract new airlines, but they said that
because of recent revelations about state and federal funds, they should
bring their master plan consultants back and consider more fiscally feasible
options.

That would include constructing a less expensive midfield terminal or
rebuilding the terminal at its current location west of the airport's
runways.

The issue now goes back to the consultants and will be addressed again at
the aviation commission's next meeting: 10 a.m. Feb. 27 at Augusta Regional
Airport's hotel banquet room.

"I think the charge has to be to the planners that we want those plans
scaled way, way back," Commissioner Marcie Wilhelmi said. "The public is
going to have to appreciate that the landscape has totally changed. We've
undergone several earthquakes."

One of those earthquakes was felt Feb. 6, when airport officials went to
Atlanta. Legislators said that although they support the airport, state
funding is currently not available for the project.

Ken Kraemer, the airport's director, said the lack of funding has nothing to
do with former state Sen. Charles Walker's absence from the Legislature.

"Whether Sen. Walker still sat in his Senate seat or not, the bottom line is
the state of Georgia is still more than $600 million in the hole," he said,
referring to the state's deficit.

Mr. Kraemer said the local congressional delegation and the Federal Aviation
Administration had a similar message for airport officials, citing security
and safety as their top budget priorities.

"The preliminary indication right now is there will not be sufficient
airport improvement program funds for any earmarked (requests) in the United
States," he said, adding, "the more money that goes to the Transportation
Security Administration, the less money that is available to our improvement
program."

Mr. Kraemer said the problem is the master plan was formulated before Sept.
11, 2001, and was based on a different climate, when state and federal
funding was more readily available.

The $64 million midfield terminal plan relied on $22 million of state funds,
$18 million of federal money and $17.2 million in discretionary funds from
the FAA. The midfield terminal's cost was nearly $40 million more than
rebuilding the current terminal, partly because new access roads and other
infrastructure would need to be built.

Some aviation commissioners had supported the midfield design because, they
said, it worked best with a plan to construct a new runway parallel to the
existing primary runway.

The airport now has about $9 million in savings, $1.8 million in a fund
collected from individual passenger tickets, and about $1.8 million in
entitlement money from the FAA.

Aviation commissioners said they also would like $8 million in special local
option sales tax money for new roadways, but that money would have to be
approved by voters and wouldn't be available until 2006.

Although the Sept. 11 attacks are the reason officials gave for why things
are being changed, the master plan was submitted to the FAA in December
2001. Why did the board wait until now to consider another option?

"After Sept. 11, analysts and others were saying within a year things will
be back to normal and things will pick back up," said aviation commission
Chairman Cedric Johnson. "So we didn't want to rush in making a decision
without giving the economy the opportunity to recover."

Aviation commission members also said they are uncomfortable making a
decision on how to proceed until they know how much in revenue bond money
they could receive for the project.

On Thursday, though, the aviation commission was faced with the task of
regrouping.

"Let's take off the rose-colored glasses and let's be realistic," Mr.
Kraemer said. "I was very pleased to hear a unanimous vote on that subject
(re-evaluating the master plan)."

After the vote, Commissioner Pat Owen made a motion to delay action for a
year "to find out what the effects of Continental (Express) will be on this
airport." The motion was not seconded and failed.

"I just hate for us to do something and destroy what we've worked on," he
said.

Commissioner Ernie Smith said Thursday's meeting was not to abandon the
master plan.

"We are simply going to another of the master plan alternatives," he said.
"We are not abandoning the master plan."

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