Plans for the Durango-La Plata County Airport expansion may need to be scaled back in light of the recent failure of a ballot question, some airport advisory commissioners said Thursday.
Residents voted down a property tax increase that would have raised $40 million over 20 years to partially fund a new terminal on the east side of the runway.
“I don’t think it would be wise to take this same thing to the voters again,” La Plata County Commissioner Julie Westendorff said.
A smaller, scalable project with different financing might be more palatable to voters, said Gary Derck, a member of the Durango-La Plata County Airport Commission.
“We understand what the issues are. I think we need to come back with a phased approach,” he said.
The Airport Commission asked to meet with Durango city councilors and the La Plata County commissioners to discuss the issue.
While the ballot question was defeated, an environmental assessment of three possible expansion options is continuing. It will likely be finished in 2018.
New financing options could exist under the Donald Trump administration, which has promised to spend more on infrastructure, said Travis Vallin, a co-owner with Jviation, an aviation consulting firm.
It is possible the federal government might increase the cap on passenger fees, and that could help increase how much the airport could contribute to a project, he said.
“You are going to see more financing options in the next six to 12 months,” he said.
With this financing, a terminal on the east side of the runway potentially could be built without a tax increase, he said.
Matching Federal Aviation Administration money will also likely be available in the future to help fund projects – even up to the $40 million previously promised, Interim Aviation Director Tony Vicari said.
“The FAA is pretty committed to make that level of funding available to us in the future,” he said.
While new plans for expansion are explored, commissioners discussed what might be done in the interim.
The need to improve working conditions for staff members, provide additional plane parking and room to de-ice planes is still pressing, said Airport Commissioner Susan Condon.
“Where they have to store their equipment is just phenomenally bad,” she said.
However, the FAA might be hesitant to invest in a facility that may not be supported in the long term by the airport, Vicari said.
City and county officials must decide how to meet the airport’s needs so construction priorities can be set, and those decisions need to be made through a measured and thoughtful process, he said. “I think it’s important not to rush the decisions.”
Vicari also delivered good news about airport traffic.
The number of passengers boarding planes in Durango in September and October exceeded the same months in 2015, and this has helped reverse the decline in enplanements the airport had been seeing, Vicari said.
So far this year, enplanements are down 2.1 percent, from 160,520 in 2015 to 157,179.
United Airlines’ larger planes that started coming to Durango in November could also help increase passenger numbers, he said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
