Final large hurdle cleared with Army Corps approval

By Christopher Carpenter 
Staff Writer

The last major hurdle for a runway extension project at the Macon County Airport was cleared with the release last week of a final permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers. At Tuesday’s meeting of the Airport Authority, consultant engineer Eric Rysdon reported that the draft 404 permit had been accepted by Authority Chairman Milles Gregory and return to the Army Corps to be finalized.

The 404 permit approves the runway extension’s impact on a section of stream that will need to be piped as well as wetlands on an area of the airport property that will need to be filled in for the purpose of removing wildlife aircraft strike hazards and mitigating some impacts of previous projects at the airport.

The area to be filled in will extend the airport’s safety zone and subsequently become available for future projects, including new hangars being planned for the site.

At the meeting, authority members authorized Rysdon to engage a geotechnical engineer and move forward on plans to make the site suitable for the future hangars.

Funds available for the extension project total $4.1 million, including a state grant, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant and local matching funds, which the county has already allocated for in the current year’s budget. Rysdon noted that projects estimates indicate the funding should be adequate.

“With the engineer’s estimate that we've currently come up with, as well as the mitigation into the wetlands bank, this is sufficient at current rates,” he said, “and that’s one of the reasons we want to go ahead and try to get it bid sooner rather than later and take advantage of some of the prices that contractors are offering right now.”

After bids are advertised, the authority must leave bidding open for a minimum of 21 days. Members expressed the desire to have a bid approved by next month's meeting which would require that bids be advertised at least by August 9. After bids are advertised, the authority will hold a pre-bid meeting for potential contractors to ask questions and do a site visit.

“It’s already August so we need to move quickly,” Gregory said.

“Let’s make it real plain. The day we’ve been looking for for 15 years is here,” said authority member Harold Corbin.

Later he added, “One thing I’m real proud of, Mr. Chairman, is that in all the years we’ve been working on this thing, we have never tried to hide anything from anybody or sweep anything under the rug.”

Gregory expressed his gratitude for support for the project from elected officials and individuals in the FAA.

“Let me just say that we want to express our sincere appreciation to Congressman Shuler’s office, Senator Burr’s office and also Senator Hagan’s office.”

He said that the three had been particularly helpful in moving the project forward. A motion was approved to send a formal letter of thanks to the elected officials.

Related to the project, the board discussed a number of alternative sources of dirt for the land-fill, including from the site of the new Iotla K-4 school which will begin construction this fall. Also, dirt from the site of the Macon County Public Library on Siler Road is available. Finally, Gregory reported that the developer of a commercial project on 441 South has offered dirt to the airport.

Rysdon noted that all dirt would have to be analyzed for artifacts and cleaned before the airport could accept it.

Other loose ends to be tied up before bidding can start include demonstration of compliance with Disadvantaged Business Enterprise criteria for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The runway extension project has generated some controversy within the community in previous years. Various concerns had been raised over the increase in air traffic the improved facility could bring.

When an archeological survey uncovered a wealth of artifacts in the extension area, some felt the project should be halted entirely. Others have worried that the improvements would pave the way for other development in the picturesque Iotla Valley.

Hangars always part of long-term plans

Despite the insistence of officials that there are no plans to expand the airport beyond the safety improvements, new hangars have been part of the long-term plans for some time.

“We’ve been talking about it for the last five years or more,” said Gregory at a recent authority meeting. “If we get some money, we’re going to do it.”

An indirect and cumulative effects assessment for the extension project released in Feb. 2009 noted the airport’s plans to build hangars in the future, but said that such plans were not dependent on the runway extension. The assessment stated that extension and other improvements do not have “an explicit economic development purpose.”

While no specific plans for hangars have been drawn up yet, various possibilities are being considered. According to Franklin Aviation owner Neil Hoppe, there are between 45 and 50 individuals on a waiting list for hangar space in Macon County.

According to Gregory, the airport may be able to find federal stimulus funds for the new hangars, but this has yet to be verified.

“We’re having our engineers look at revenue sources,” he said.