UPGRADES TO CRESTVIEW AIRPORT IN THE WORKS

People do you not see what is happening. It is an explosion. New Army Post, F-35 Training Squardron, Crestview Airport Upgrades, New Technology Park in Crestview, NWF State College Expansion in Crestview, FAMU Explansion in Crestview, and much much more. If you have seen it personally, get in your car and see. It will astonish you.


Upgrades to attract new business planned for Bob Sikes Airport
Brian Hughes brianh@crestviewbulletin.com
2010-02-26 09:37:31

Local residents, business and community leaders had the opportunity to hear about planned improvements to the Crestview Bob Sikes Airport at a Wednesday morning briefing.
Okaloosa County Airports project manager Tracy Stage and airports Director Greg Donovan briefed a small audience at the North Okaloosa Fire District’s airport station’s meeting room on the progress of the airport’s master plan.
“This is something we’ve been working on over the last two to five years,” Stage explained.
Stage said the document is needed when seeking funding or permits to proceed with improvements from the Federal Aviation Administration or the Florida Department of Transportation.
“The FAA will ask, ‘Is this something that you have in your master plan?’” Stage said.
“If it’s not in our master plan, we cannot even apply for federal or state grants,” Donovan added. He emphasized that all improvements to the airport are made using funds generated by airport activities, grants or the national Aviation Trust Fund.
New improvements being considered for the master plan include widening existing taxiways, establishing a storm water runoff mitigation plan, adding new hangars, building future taxiways, expanding vehicle parking, and establishing a Runway Protection Zone. Attracting new industry to the airport vicinity is also a priority, he said.
By “ganging” several projects while a contractor is on site, the airport will save money, Stage explained, and might also be able to accomplish lower priority projects “if we have the funding.”
Taxiways and storm water
Bids will likely go out in May for widening the existing taxiways and adding taxiway lighting, Stage said. One reason for widening taxiways is to accommodate larger cargo planes.
Currently the airport is in competition to secure a mission to deliver a fleet of helicopters destined for Fort Rucker near Dothan, Ala. The aircraft would be delivered from Ramstein AFB in Germany to a suitable airport in the vicinity in the cavernous cargo hold of the giant, Russian-made Antonov An-124, the second-largest cargo airplane in the world. However, an impediment is the Crestview airport’s 50-ft.-wide taxiways.
“Our limitation is not the runway length. The runway is essentially brand new,” said Donovan. “Our limitation now is the taxiway widths for the very largest of aircraft.”
Donovan said Stage and his staff have produced models that show the An-124 could turn using existing taxiways, however excessive forward and backward maneuvering would be needed.
“There's a 50/50 chance they will go to another airport,” Donovan lamented.
At the same time the airport will also address storm water management, a concern that the airport has not previously addressed, Stage said. Including storm water management in the master plan will streamline the permitting process with the Northwest Florida Water Management District, airport staff said.
Donovan said the plan would provide a “bank” of projects “so we wouldn’t have to go to the Water Management District for each project.”
“We have been building out here for years but deferring our storm water management responsibilities,” Donovan acknowledged.
New hangars
Like a developer putting in streets, sewer and water hook-ups for new homes, the airport has installed infrastructure to accommodate new hangars, including as many as 14 “Tee-hangars,” which are smaller than standard rectangular hangars. They get their name from their T-shaped floor plan, which allows several hangars to be nested together in a row. As part of the infrastructure, the master plan also calls for expanded vehicle parking.
“With (the old) Panama City (Airport) closing soon, there is going to be a lot of general aviation folks looking for hangar space,” Stage said, explaining the impending opening of the city’s new commercial aviation airport will result in the closing of the current airport, which is shared by both commercial and private aircraft.
“The infrastructure is already in place” at Crestview airport, Donovan said, adding that new tenants will bear the expense of constructing their own hangar.
“We took it a step further,” added Stage. “Not only is the infrastructure in the ground, we developed a package” of step-by-step instructions of what a tenant needs to do to build and move in, including information on local and county permitting. Stage added there is government funding available for general aviation operators to relocate to new facilities when Panama City Airport shuts down.
New hangar owners must sign a lease, typically for 30 years, during which they will own the hangar facilities. After the lease expires, ownership of the hangar reverts to the county.
Runway Protection Zone
Airport staff presented an aerial view of the north end of the runway overlaid by a grid delineating the airport’s Runway Protection Zone (RPZ).
“What we're looking at is preventing another Destin scenario from happening,” Donovan explained.
In Destin, residential development has occurred right up to the Destin Airport’s property line. It has restricted any airport expansion and limited the types of services the county can provide at the airport. Crestview’s airport, Donovan said, is fortunate that it has an undeveloped buffer area around it, apart from compatible industries such as BAE Systems, L-3 Crestview Aerospace, and businesses at the county Air Park.
The proposed easement area at Crestview’s airport will “keep new development out of this box,” Stage said, indicating the zone on an aerial photo. The plan will be filed with the county growth management department, so when developers inquire, “the county will know they can’t build in there.”
“We need to have this area,” said Donovan. “It’s critical to us to not have any obstructions.”
A resident, who said he lives northeast of the RPZ, asked if there was any chance the airport’s area would expand, such as if a new runway was to be added.
“This airport would do well to have a tower,” Donovan said, but assured him, “but I don’t see this airport in the next 50 years requiring another runway.”
The only place a runway could go is parallel to the existing runway, Donovan said, “but the topography’s bad,” including low-lying areas that are prone to flooding and rolling terrain.
Wednesday’s meeting was the final public meeting for the Crestview Airport’s master plan. “We’ll go back and second the next couple weeks incorporating anything else that came out of the meeting,” Stage said. He anticipates the final version will be ready to go the FAA within a month.
“It’s very important to have this plan in place,” Stage said.