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November 15, 2011

Airport expansion gets support from county, city

By Benjamin Bullard The Cullman Times

CULLMAN — The Cullman Regional Airport Board’s hope of expanding to accommodate more hangar space and runway length got a boost Monday, as both the Cullman County Commission and the Cullman City Council agreed to approve an initial request to the state’s aviation board for a new T-hangar bay at Folsom Field.

The approvals will allow the Cullman Aviation board to move ahead with plans for both a new 16-bay T-hangar, as well as with a federal grant in the works that could add approximately 700 feet to the length of the field’s single existing runway.

The airport is jointly owned by Cullman County and the City of Cullman, and is overseen by a five-member aviation board comprised of officials from both governments.

After a specially-called meeting Monday at which the county commission resolved to back both projects, commission chairman James Graves said the upgrades could further position the airport to increase its revenues and, possibly, to eventually put the airport in a position to catch spillover light commercial traffic currently being crowded out of larger airports in Birmingham and Huntsville.

“There’s such a demand for the T-hangar space,” said Graves. “There’s really a push on, too, for commercial hangar space, and we may be able to consider that in the not-too-distant future. We’ve got people in other cities who are finding it overcrowded, smaller businesses who would like to move their aircraft here if our field can accommodate them.”

The T-hangar addition and the runway expansion are two separate projects and will be funded through different means, leaving the airport board free to move ahead with each on separate timelines.

Airport manager Bob Burns said Monday construction of the T-hangar, expected to cost approximately $550,000, has a chance to begin soon if the project meets with no unforeseen obstacles.

“The county commission and the city council are both approving the pre-application [for the T-hangar] to the Alabama Aeronautics Division, and on our side, we already have more than enough people signed on to fill up a new hangar,” said Burns.

“The airport board will finance approximately half of the project under a 50/50 matching program with the state, and the city and county will not have to put any money toward the hangar. Revenues from the leasing of hangar space will be used to cover the cost of the financing. We hope to see bids for the hangar go out in another week or two, and then, once we get those back, we will move from there.”

The runway expansion, which must still clear environmental impact studies and property acquisition negotiations, is expected to cost $1.3 million and would be financed through a federal match grant that would seek 2.5 percent of the project’s cost from the city, and another 2.5 percent from the county.



* Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 270.

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