"Texas airport tenants may get rent relief during runway closure"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Airport tenants may get relief
By Brandi Hart
The McKinney (TX) Courier-Gazette


People who lease buildings at the Collin County Regional Airport may not be
charged rent for the amount of time the runway will be rehabilitated in
October, which would be approximately $61,430 in rent.

The asphalt runway is expected to be closed 30 to 35 days beginning Oct. 1
so it can have a 12-inch concrete overlay placed on top of it so it can
handle larger planes for years to come.

"It's cracking and since 1978 it's gotten worse with the larger planes that
have been using it. It wasn't built properly. When you pave a street, you
pave it all at once," said airport board member Mike Massey.

The board agreed not to charge the rent at a special meeting on May 3. The
$61,430 amount is based on a credit for the land lease rate and tenants'
pro-rated business property taxes for the amount of time the runway is
closed, said Chris Rozansky, airport operations manager.

The proposal is one of four restitution alternatives for airport tenants
that the McKinney City Council will review at a workshop meeting that will
be at 11:30 a.m. May 21 at City Hall, 222 N. Tennessee St.

The board's recommendation is much less than the amount of money some
airport tenants expected to lose, which topped $1 million while the airport
is closed for the rehabilitation work. "There's not going to be any checks
written and no money will cross hands," Massey said.

The airport will not use any taxiways for small planes to land or take off
because the Federal Aviation Administration did not approve any alternatives
to the closure of the runway, Massey said.

The Grayson County Municipal Airport in Sherman is allowing people to tie
down their planes for free while the runway is closed, which was very kind
of them to do, Massey said

Airport staff is seeking public input about the environmental assessment of
the replacement runway that will be built 550 feet east of the existing
runway. A public input meeting will be held 7 to 9 p.m. May 24 at city hall
about the environmental assessment of the replacement runway, which is
required by the FAA. Engineers with Coffman Associates Inc. will present the
assessment. Comments that are made about the assessment will be submitted to
the FAA. If the FAA issues a finding of no significant impact, then the
assessment will be approved, Rozansky said.

"If it's approved, then we can proceed with the design, which could take a
year to 1.5 years to complete. It could be in construction by late 2008 or
early 2009 if everything goes according to plan," Rozansky said.

The meeting will be held after the regular monthly airport board meeting,
which will begin at 5:30 p.m. May 24.

Airport Director Ken Wiegand could not be reached for comment by deadline.

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