It's time to move on city airport

If recent discussions about Kalispell City Airport seem painfully familiar, that’s because they are.

Consider these passages from the Daily Inter Lake over the years:

October 1999: “Strong support was given for continuing and improving the Kalispell City Airport during a hearing Monday on the final feasibility and master plan for the facility.”

September 2002: “After six years and several lengthy studies, a proposed expansion of the Kalispell City Airport could be just months away from qualifying for federal funding.”

August 2004: “The Kalispell City Council could take its first concrete step toward the proposed expansion of the city airport tonight by approving the purchase of two parcels of land near the southern end of the airstrip.”

April 2005: “Once again, and for the anticipated final time, the Kalispell City Council tonight will tackle the proposed sale of $2 million in tax increment urban renewal revenue bonds to finance a project to expand and improve the Kalispell City Airport.”

These represent just a small selection of stories about the oft-discussed but never-resolved airport situation.

In fact, over the last 32 years, nearly a dozen studies have looked at what to do with the airport or how to do it.

Can anyone say “studied to death”?

But wait: There’s one more.

The latest airport study — recommending a $16 million upgrade of Kalispell’s 83-year-old general aviation airport — now is on the table for consideration by city leaders.

The study calls for an ambitious undertaking that probably would take six or seven years, require a substantial investment by the city and no doubt anger those who wish the airport would disappear.

Will this finally be the year the city heeds the study and moves forward on the airport? We hope so.

Perhaps it’s finally time to bring the endless cycle of studies to an end and bring the airport debate to a conclusion. We urge the City Council and administration not to merely kick the can down the road (or runway, as it were) as has happened so many times in the past.

Let’s deal with the airport’s future definitively. The newest engineering study provides a detailed road map for improving the airport. Why not follow that recommendation and make something happen at Kalispell City Airport?