The La Plata County Commissioners continued discussion of possible plans for a new airport terminal Tuesday morning, a follow-up to a community forum held on March 3.
They didn't make any decisions. They were to meet with City of Durango officials yesterday morning. According to the posted meeting notice, that could include direction to staff. The city and county are joint operators of the airport.
County Manager Joe Kerby said, "If we end up on the same page Thursday, we'd probably draft a resolution for the boards to approve at separate meetings. ... We just want some formal direction to move to the next step, with a level of comfort that both boards are on the same page."
As reported in the March 6 Times, the current preferred option is a new terminal on the east side of the runway instead of expanding the existing terminal or building a new terminal just north of the old one.
The projected cost for the new east side terminal is $85.4 million to meet current needs. It would be 82,000 square feet, double the size of the old terminal. This proposal also includes 1,500 parking spaces, four airline gates and one overnight parking slot. It needs a new entrance road.
The $85.4 million estimate includes $35.8 million for the new terminal, $30.9 million in site costs, and $18.68 million for design and program management.
The expectation is that the Federal Aviation Administration would cover up to $35 to $40 million on condition of an equal local match.
The March 3 discussion was for a property tax increase that would need voter approval. Some people commenting wanted at least part of it to come from airport user fees.
Commission Chair Gwen Lachelt asked how the airport would pay for other future improvements if a new terminal is built.
Airport Director Kip Turner said those would be much smaller projects and would be done as needed, and as money was available. He cited the FAA Airport Improvement Program (AIP), which could provide $1.6 to $1.7 million a year for infrastructure improvements, as well as the airport's passenger facility charge, currently $4.50 per enplanement. That brings in around $860,000 a year, he said.
If a new terminal is built on the east side, the old terminal could be leased to a business and become an airport revenue source, Turner said.
On the projected $19 million for design and project management for the east side terminal, Turner said, "The next phase has a very detailed financial analysis that will better answer those questions. Those numbers are very conservative, so this could go down." But he added, "I don't expect it to go down much. There are contingencies built in that can be defined in the next phase."
Turner clarified that two separate things are now in the works - the airport master plan that covers the entire airport, and the separately funded terminal area master plan update that will be part of the overall plan. The terminal plan will move forward with the chosen alternative.
"The terminal update identified the deficiencies and evaluated three alternatives to address those," he said. "They (the Jviation consulting firm) vetted the three to make sure they meet the 20- year growth standard. That's what they've done to date. We need to give them a nod of which one we'll go with. The deeper financial analysis is the next step."
Commissioner Julie Westendorff commented, "It seems like you need some design specifics to do that. How many more iterations are there before we have a budget we can operate on? ... The thing I hear people concerned about is paying for something shiny and pretty over the function of an airport that gets the job done."
Turner said, "That's just misconception. It would be built to today's standards and needs. There's nothing extra added."
Serious design work won't start until funding is assured, Turner said, meaning voter approval of a property tax increase, possibly this November.
Asked about the assurance of $35 to $40 million from the FAA, he said, "The program has been in existence for a long time. For it to stop being funded would have implications across the country. I don't see that happening. We wouldn't move forward with the work until we have funding in place."
He reiterated that the proposed east side terminal would be designed to meet current needs, and that improvements beyond that will be paid for with airport revenue.
An equal if not greater need than the terminal is accommodations for the airlines that use the airport, to be appropriate for today's operations, Turner said.
There will be presentations on the airport plans to the Bayfield and Ignacio town boards, both on March 18 at the respective town halls, 6 p.m. in Bayfield, 7:30 p.m. in Ignacio.
With the additional time for public input, the county commissioners will have the airport on their March 24 morning agenda for a possible vote on directions to staff.
Lachelt said she wants that meeting to include a rundown of other big county and city funding needs in the next five to 20 years, and how they would be paid for. "There's a concern that we're just looking at the airport as a stand-alone project without considering those other needs," she said.
