SPRINGDALE -- The Airport Commission is considering buying 10 acres to expand the Springdale Municipal Airport.
The commission voted Thursday to pay Reed and Associates, a Fayetteville-based real estate appraiser, $25,500 to appraise land northwest of the airport.
"It's been on our long-range plan for four or five years," said Wyman Morgan, administrative and financial services director for the city.
The $25,500 will come from the airport's finances. The airport had $248,000 in the bank as of July, Morgan said.
The commission wants to use the land for a terminal annex and connect the airport to Emma Avenue, said Neil Johnson, commission chairman.
"It allows for passengers to get to Emma Avenue easily," Johnson said.
Buying the land would also create room for new hangars, Morgan said.
"But they will be built with the financing available and when there's need for them," he said.
The airport has a little more than 100 hangars, Morgan said. All of those are full, rented by aircraft operators, said James Smith, airport manager.
"There's a high demand for hangar space," Smith said.
The commission would have to borrow money from the city to buy the land.
"They want to ask the city to loan them that money, and they would pay it back with a grant whenever a grant becomes available," he said.
The commission would have to wait three years for a Federal Aviation Administration grant because the airport has used the maximum FAA grant money available for other projects, Morgan said.
The City Council approved in July a $207,450 FAA grant to the airport to pay for 90 percent of the cost for runway work. The project includes replacing the lighting with LED lights, which last longer and are less expensive to operate, Johnson said in July.
The commission plans to apply for a grant from the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics to pay for the remaining 10 percent of the runway project.
NW News on 08/18/2017