Airport Authority ready to retool airport digs
Holmes County Airport Authority board members Roc Baker and Tracy Schlabach met with Holmes County Commissioner board members Monday, April 14 to discuss the ongoing effort to improve the facilities at the Holmes County Airport.
Baker said the authority board simply wanted to stay focused on what it needed to do and prepare for with the airport project improvements, including a new hangar and construction on the airport terminal now in the hands of Robert Miller of Tekton Engineering in Berlin.
Recently, Tekton was awarded a bid to begin the planning stages on the airport hangar as well as designing additions to the terminal, with the hangar being the initial part of the project.
According to Commissioner Joe Miller, the county has paid Tekton $207,000 to create a blueprint for the improvements. The commissioners have set aside a budget of $3 million in which the improvements can be made, with those funds coming from the county’s capital improvement fund. Much of that funding is generated from the county’s sales tax.
“The last time I talked to (Robert Miller), he said he was going to do research as to whether we are going to do a design build or just bid it out,” Miller said. “He will know how much we can do for $3 million, so they won’t draw up humongous stuff and we won’t have the money to do it.”
As of now, the focus will be on building a new hangar that will be able to house more and larger planes, whether they are jets being stored regularly from local owners to incoming visitors wishing to house their plane while they visit.
Miller also said the county prefers not to mix in grant funding from the federal level because that would only make the process more difficult.
Baker agreed, stating that in talking to their engineers, it would be the best course to pursue.
“The FAA is very selective in what they will support,” Baker said.
Commissioner Dave Hall said that eventually they could pursue state funding, but by leaving out federal funding, the project can progress as scheduled without outside interference.
“If you bring in the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), they will drag you into the world of reporting, and the cost will probably quadruple,” Hall said.
Baker said the airport authority board had a productive meeting with OMEGA (Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association), noting that there is possible funding there, although it wouldn’t be available until next year.
“OMEGA likes finishing things up,” Baker said. “They don’t want to be the main driver. They want to help finish things, and that fits into our plans.”
Baker went on to say that, as was the case with Pomerene Hospital’s recent construction addition, they put the main building in place and added on as funds became available. He said proceeding in that manner would make sense for this project, which would allow them to build the frame and add some of the other projected improvements in the terminal later.
The projected plan for the hangar is to build a steel pole building that would house up to five jet planes. Baker said making the building the proper height to accommodate larger planes and having it insulated for the planes’ protection when they were housed there were two critical components.
Along with the two construction projects, the HCAA is also in the process of rebuilding its taxiway and runway in a separate project.
Baker said these improvements will help bring more visitors into the area and create an even better picture of Holmes County.
Commissioner Miller said these updates and improvements are critical for the growth, expansion and economy of Holmes County.
Baker agreed and said they are excited about the growth potential.
“We’ve been waiting a long time to solve these problems,” Baker added. “Probably since 1965. The (hangar) we have now was built in 1965 and was great for that day, but the last time we replaced the door on it, we had to notch out a little spot because we needed to create space to get a certain type of jet inside.”
The hangars being taken down and replaced are the row of original, smaller hangars.