"Why keep an airport?"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, December 28, 2007

Why keep an airport?
Mounting expenses raise questions about need for facility
By Darrell Todd Maurina
The Waynesville (M) Daily Guide


City officials from both Waynesville and St. Robert have obtained hundreds
of thousands of dollars in state and federal grants for their joint airport
on Forney Field at Fort Leonard Wood, but some city councilmen questioned
those expenses at their Dec. 20 meeting.

"Can someone tell me honestly, what us being involved with this airport does
for our community?" asked Councilman Alan Clark.

City Administrator Bruce Harrill said having an airport is a useful tool for
economic development of Waynesville and said many other cities would love to
have an airport with the capabilities present at Forney Field.

"Generally it is recognized that airports have an economic development
purpose for our community," Harrill said. "I see some benefit to the city as
well, trying to move it into a self-sufficient operation."

That's important, Clark said, since the airport has lost money for years and
continues to lose money even now that the city of Waynesville has joined
with St. Robert as a joint operation.

"I think we need to get out of the airport business unless we can show that
it is helping both communities," Clark said. "I know everybody involved with
this is putting a lot of heart, time and energy into it, but we're spending
a lot of money."

"I can be a little bit patient, but I just don't see what good it does to
our community with all the money we are spending on it," Clark said.

Clark took aim at a number of recent problems and cost overruns at the
airport, including a fuel pump that isn't working properly and a
construction delay in a new airport hangar project.

Clark, a former Marine Corps engineer who now works for the American Eagle
corporation overseeing building construction standards of the new housing
being built on the post, asked how much of the construction problems have
been caused by Army processes.

"Being innately familiar with the planning and approval process out at the
fort, have there been any delays out there?" Clark asked.

Harrill said the construction company responsible for building the hangars
says Fort Leonard Wood officials were responsible for some of the delays but
said unavoidable topography problems were responsible for others. The Joint
Airport Board is currently reviewing four change order requests for
additional payments, Harrill said, and is attempting to determine who is
responsible for the delay and redesign issues.

On the Web:

Determining Your Airports Economic Impact
http://californiaaviation.org/pdf_files/airport_economic_impact.pdf



   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php

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