County pursues grant for airport upgrades
NORWICH – As is done annually, county lawmakers agreed to apply for another federal grant made available for planning and improvements at the Lt. Warren E. Eaton/Chenango County Airport.
This one, for $111,000, is to update the airport’s 5-year layout plans, conduct a feasibility study for possibly extending the runway, and to design the location for 12 additional T-hangars. The grant is made possible through the Federal Aviation Administration and sponsored locally by U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer.
The county applied for and received a $514,000 grant last year to write the airport’s improvement plan though 2011. The last plan was written 12 years ago.
Planning and Economic Development Committee Chairperson Linda E. Natoli, R-City of Norwich, brought the resolution before the full board of town supervisors last week without first passing it through the committee structure. She said she had just learned last week about the June 1 grant application deadline.
Town of Preston Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan cast the sole vote against the measure, arguing that the county didn’t intend to extend the airport’s runway.
“We’ve talked for years about extending the runway at the airport. If we aren’t going to do it, why are we taking it (the grant)?” he asked during discussion.
While Natoli agreed that the likelihood of extending the airport’s runway would “probably never happen,” she said lawmakers should accept the “stimulus money.”
“The way our economy is going and because the airport is still used by companies, I think we should accept it.”
There were 2,274 takes offs and landings last year at the Chenango County Airport, according to new independent operators Gama Aviation, Inc. of the United Kingdom (see insert). Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals is the hub’s biggest corporate user.
Flanagan said he was “tired” of seeing grants go toward funding feasibility studies contracted out to engineering firms. “I’ve never understood it,” he said, pointing to a Syracuse firm’s bill for $40,000 that, he said, was used to design a chain link fence around the runway.
“It’s somebody’s money,” he said.
Chenango County applied for and was awarded nearly $4 million in 2004 to extend the airport’s runway by 300 feet to 5,000 feet. Officials said the longer landing strip would make the airport attractive to more and larger corporate jets. The county was forced to return the grant, however, after a deep layer of peat was discovered in the ground where plans called for an access road.
Later, FAA regulations required the county to actually shorten the runway’s threshold by about 400 feet due to trees, a house and other safety obstructions.
For the past several years, Airport Administrator Donald C. MacIntosh has attempted to steer the county through the various roadblocks and regulations. Grants were successfully applied for and resulted in a new equipment storage building, repairs to the fuel system, weather observation equipment and runway repairs.
MacIntosh said the contracts were signed and officials are waiting for the appropriate weather conditions to begin removing the saftey obstructions and replacing the threshold, lighting and other runway markings.
This one, for $111,000, is to update the airport’s 5-year layout plans, conduct a feasibility study for possibly extending the runway, and to design the location for 12 additional T-hangars. The grant is made possible through the Federal Aviation Administration and sponsored locally by U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer.
The county applied for and received a $514,000 grant last year to write the airport’s improvement plan though 2011. The last plan was written 12 years ago.
Planning and Economic Development Committee Chairperson Linda E. Natoli, R-City of Norwich, brought the resolution before the full board of town supervisors last week without first passing it through the committee structure. She said she had just learned last week about the June 1 grant application deadline.
Town of Preston Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan cast the sole vote against the measure, arguing that the county didn’t intend to extend the airport’s runway.
“We’ve talked for years about extending the runway at the airport. If we aren’t going to do it, why are we taking it (the grant)?” he asked during discussion.
While Natoli agreed that the likelihood of extending the airport’s runway would “probably never happen,” she said lawmakers should accept the “stimulus money.”
“The way our economy is going and because the airport is still used by companies, I think we should accept it.”
There were 2,274 takes offs and landings last year at the Chenango County Airport, according to new independent operators Gama Aviation, Inc. of the United Kingdom (see insert). Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals is the hub’s biggest corporate user.
Flanagan said he was “tired” of seeing grants go toward funding feasibility studies contracted out to engineering firms. “I’ve never understood it,” he said, pointing to a Syracuse firm’s bill for $40,000 that, he said, was used to design a chain link fence around the runway.
“It’s somebody’s money,” he said.
Chenango County applied for and was awarded nearly $4 million in 2004 to extend the airport’s runway by 300 feet to 5,000 feet. Officials said the longer landing strip would make the airport attractive to more and larger corporate jets. The county was forced to return the grant, however, after a deep layer of peat was discovered in the ground where plans called for an access road.
Later, FAA regulations required the county to actually shorten the runway’s threshold by about 400 feet due to trees, a house and other safety obstructions.
For the past several years, Airport Administrator Donald C. MacIntosh has attempted to steer the county through the various roadblocks and regulations. Grants were successfully applied for and resulted in a new equipment storage building, repairs to the fuel system, weather observation equipment and runway repairs.
MacIntosh said the contracts were signed and officials are waiting for the appropriate weather conditions to begin removing the saftey obstructions and replacing the threshold, lighting and other runway markings.
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