CAA: GA News, "Ohio airport runway project postponed"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Monday, March 4, 2002

Airport runway project postponed
By TOM GIAMBRONI
The Columbiana County  (OH) Morning Journal


GLENMOOR - It's back to the drawing board for the Columbiana County Airport
Authority after learning the actual cost of extending its runway was nearly
triple the original estimate.

The airport authority was preparing to proceed with plans to extend the
3,500-foot runway by another 500 feet to accommodate larger airplanes and
corporate jets, relying on $450,000 promised over the next three years from
the Federal Aviation Administration.

But at a public hearing held last week to unveil the runway extension plans,
the authority learned from its engineering firm the actual cost is $1.3
million.

"I was floored," said airport authority chairman John Sayle, who had no
advance warning the actual estimate would be anywhere near that figure.
"Another $800,000, I wasn't prepared for."

The reason for the higher-than-anticipated cost is due to large amount of
dirt that would be needed to fill in the low spots along the 500-foot
extension to make it level.

"I've gotten over the initial shock of the meeting," Sayle said.

He has already begun working on a plan that will enable the airport
authority to proceed with the runway extension project even at the higher
price tag, but it will depend on the generosity of the FAA.

The airport authority already has $360,000 remaining from the $450,000
pledged by the FAA. Sayle said they will apply to the FAA for a grant to
cover 90 percent of the remaining $1 million cost, with the airport
authority coming up with the 10 percent match, or $100,000, if the Ohio
Department of Transportation's aviation division is unable to pick up 5
percent.

County commissioners already told the airport authority not to count on them
for any money due to the county's continuing financial troubles.

"They don't have that kind of money and we understand that," Sayle said.
"There are ways to find that money. We just have to be creative."

Sayle is thinking about how to come up with the airport authority's $100,000
share - if it receives the $1 million grant from the FAA.

The airport has two hangars, once of which is paid off and the other about
to start construction at a cost of $250,000. The construction loan is to be
repaid with rent charged for hangar space.

After the initial $100,000 of the construction loan is repaid, Sayle
proposes the airport authority turn around and re-borrow $100,000 from the
bank to serve as the FAA grant match. The loan would then be repaid with
rental income from both hangars.

Sayle is hopeful the plan will work. "This all has to be hashed out at our
next meeting ... (but) we've found ways in the past to run the airport, one
way or the other," he said.

   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

*****************************************