Council may push for airport answer

Elected city officials want to make a decision on what to do with Kalispell City Airport, preferably before a new city manager is hired

The discussion at Monday night’s Kalispell City Council meeting was colored by Saturday’s plane crash into a home in south Kalispell, which prompted Scott Davis, spokesman for Quiet Skies, to reiterate his group’s push to have the airport closed or moved.

“We’re asking the mayor and council to protect us now,” Davis said. “We’ve asked you many times to close this airport.”

What to do with the airport has vexed city officials for the better part of a decade. Council members said Monday they want to move ahead with a decision.

“I think we ought to schedule meetings so we make a decision around the first of April, so the new city manager is not put in the position of having to expend all that time listening over and over to the same things I’ve heard for six years now,” council member Bob Hafferman said.

“Get down to the facts, get it over with and make a decision one way or another. It’s time, it’s time, it’s time to make a decision.”

A $97,000 master plan update study by Stelling Engineers is out for review by the Federal Aviation Administration. It should be back in the city’s hands in March, said Charles Harball, Kalispell’s city attorney and interim city manager.

“We’re getting there ... There probably is no reason that they can’t have a vote on the master plan before the new city manager gets here,” Harball said.

Mayor Tammi Fisher said she agreed with that approach.

“We hope to hire a city manager by May or June and I would like the airport put to bed before then. So whatever that takes as far as workshops, work sessions, special meetings,” Fisher said.

“I think the council is interested in doing that ... It’s time to make a decision. We’ve certainly belabored the issue.”

The ongoing study selected five final options for what to do with Kalispell’s 83-year-old general aviation airport. The final version will include a recommendation by Stelling for the City Council to either adopt or reject.

One of the biggest points of contention is whether the city should expand and improve the airport to make it eligible for federal funding.

Funding would come through the Airport Improvement Program, which funds airport improvements throughout the country with a mix of aviation fuel taxes and passenger ticket fees.

According to Kalispell City Airport Manager Fred Leistiko, federal funding could pay for 95 percent of the needed improvements costs, reimburse the city for $3.1 million already spent on the airport, and provide $150,000 of annual maintenance funding.

The five final options being considered include:

n A “do-nothing” option that would close the airport as it deteriorates over the next five to 10 years.

n Closing the facility and moving users and tenants to Glacier Park International Airport.

n Upgrading the airport in its present location to meet A-1 and B-1 aircraft standards, but not make it eligible for federal funding.

n Upgrading the airport in its present location to meet B-2 aircraft standards and make it eligible for federal funding.

n Relocating the airport to a site near West Reserve Drive and West Spring Creek Road and making it eligible for federal funding.

According to Stelling, closing or moving Kalispell City Airport would require the city to buy out existing leases, an expense estimated to be about $4.8 million.

As part of the study process, private talks were held last week with people who would have to sell land for an airport expansion and upgrade in its present location. In the past, that was a roadblock because people refused to sell and the City Council refused to condemn any property for an airport project.

“My understanding is they are all willing to negotiate, but Stelling may have other information,” Harball said about the talks, calling the outcome a critical piece of information for the City Council.

“If you had landowners who said no, that would be the end of the project based on what the council has said before.”

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.