Grant to Shape Up Airport
By: Kendra Williams
The Portsmouth Daily Times, Saturday, August 23, 2003
The Scioto County Commissioners and the Airport Authority Board are anticipating the release of $154,870 in federal grant money to be used as general Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport maintenance, including improvements to taxi lighting, an update of the airport layout plan, an update of the airport of the automatic weather observing system and air field pavement crack repair.
According to Commissioner Opal Spears, changes in Federal Aviation Administration regulations require that airport make changes in Federal Aviation Administration as necessary.
FAA regulations state that buildings or residences may not obstruct the path of the runway in anyway. To clear the local airport's path of buildings and obstruction, two nearby properties must be lost.
At a meeting Thursday morning with County Commissioners, Authority Board Members George Crum and Gib Lawson expressed concern with how negotiations with those property owners is going. They said there is risk in losing the grant if an agreement is not reached in a timely matter.
Victor Knore owns one of the properties in question, just south of the runway off Ohio 335. He says he and his lawyer are involved in negotiations.
"My dad bought this farm in 1907 and I've lived here for 80 years," Knore said. He did not want to discuss details involving the negotiations but said he has made no plans.
Spears said it's no surprise the Portsmouth airport would need to comply to regulations changes, and larger airports are forced to comply with such restrictions sooner than smaller ones.
"The airport requires updating, but this is a pretty significant grant," Spears said. "An airport, even a small one like we have is viable to industrial and manufacturing growth, so we have to maintain it."
Crum says the board often assesses the needs of the airport and, with the help of an engineering firm, finds funds available to pay for such projects. Grants are typically project specific.
"We try to set up our needs on a yearly basis," said Crum. He said as a general rule, the grants provide the largest percentage of the funds needed and local and/or state governments only to have to pick up a small portion of the tab.
"We just had a repaving project that was over $200,000 last year but the local share was only 20 percent," Crum said. He is hopeful that local government will only be responsible for a minor part of this project as well.