|
|
|
Several weeks after receiving a letter from the city of Leavenworth requesting a meeting, the Leavenworth County Commission Thursday scheduled a work session next week to discuss moving forward with the study process for a regional airport.
Coffman Associates, an area airport consulting firm, performed an inventory and evaluation of potential sites for a Leavenworth County airport last year, the second in a four-step planning process required by the Federal Aviation Administration. While the Coffman study took a number of factors into account, they eventually concluded that a site on east Gilman Road in Lansing was the best candidate for a general aviation airport.
Acceptance of that finding has not been unanimous. During a recent presentation on the study by Coffman representatives, members of the Leavenworth City Commission said they would rather see one of the other three finalist sites — one off of Coffin Road in the northern part of the county — as the final site of the airport. The letter, requesting the county call a meeting of all contributing cities to discuss the airport, was sent following that discussion.
County Administrator Pat Hurley said in the meantime the process is at a standstill.
“Everybody’s seen the report, at best they’ve accepted it — I don’t think anybody’s rejected it. No one’s approved it, and that’s kind of where it is,” he said.
In order to move forward with both the site master plan and the environmental impact study, Hurley said the FAA needs an airport sponsor.
“The ultimate question really is whether there is going to be a sponsor and who that is going to be,” he said.
The county and the cities of Leavenworth, Lansing, Basehor and Tonganoxie all paid in to fund the required 5-percent match for the study. Any of those communities could choose to serve as a sponsor, as could a private entity.
Hurley said waiting to name a sponsor will not kill the project, but it could slow it down. April 1 is the deadline for the next available FAA funding cycle.
“If nobody takes any definitive action in the relatively near future, you will roll over another year,” he said.
The commission decided to schedule the meeting with the cities and Greg Kaaz, chairman of the Leavenworth County Airport and Business Park Committee, for 6 p.m. Feb. 1 in the county commission’s chambers in the county courthouse.
Several weeks after receiving a letter from the city of Leavenworth requesting a meeting, the Leavenworth County Commission Thursday scheduled a work session next week to discuss moving forward with the study process for a regional airport.
Coffman Associates, an area airport consulting firm, performed an inventory and evaluation of potential sites for a Leavenworth County airport last year, the second in a four-step planning process required by the Federal Aviation Administration. While the Coffman study took a number of factors into account, they eventually concluded that a site on east Gilman Road in Lansing was the best candidate for a general aviation airport.
Acceptance of that finding has not been unanimous. During a recent presentation on the study by Coffman representatives, members of the Leavenworth City Commission said they would rather see one of the other three finalist sites — one off of Coffin Road in the northern part of the county — as the final site of the airport. The letter, requesting the county call a meeting of all contributing cities to discuss the airport, was sent following that discussion.
County Administrator Pat Hurley said in the meantime the process is at a standstill.
“Everybody’s seen the report, at best they’ve accepted it — I don’t think anybody’s rejected it. No one’s approved it, and that’s kind of where it is,” he said.
In order to move forward with both the site master plan and the environmental impact study, Hurley said the FAA needs an airport sponsor.
“The ultimate question really is whether there is going to be a sponsor and who that is going to be,” he said.
The county and the cities of Leavenworth, Lansing, Basehor and Tonganoxie all paid in to fund the required 5-percent match for the study. Any of those communities could choose to serve as a sponsor, as could a private entity.
Hurley said waiting to name a sponsor will not kill the project, but it could slow it down. April 1 is the deadline for the next available FAA funding cycle.
“If nobody takes any definitive action in the relatively near future, you will roll over another year,” he said.
The commission decided to schedule the meeting with the cities and Greg Kaaz, chairman of the Leavenworth County Airport and Business Park Committee, for 6 p.m. Feb. 1 in the county commission’s chambers in the county courthouse.
