93°F
weather icon Clear

Committee recommends updates to airport master plan

Boulder City’s Airport Advisory Committee approved recommended updates to the airport master plan to the City Council at its meeting on Tuesday evening.

Mike Dmyterko, principal of the airport consultant firm Coffman Associates, presented the plan, which includes possible upgrades and expansion the airport could experience in the next 20 years. The goal was to come up with the most reasonable ways for the airport to grow and be safe.

The plan was set to Federal Aviation Administration guidelines and started more than two years ago when the airport received an FAA grant to update it.

The short-term projects in the proposed master plan include designing and constructing several taxiways, extending the runway by 300 feet, reconstructing the air vault field building, designing and constructing a southeast area for aircraft to park and be loaded or unloaded, and constructing a conventional hangar in the southeast portion of the airport.

Long-term projects include relocating runways and creating additional parking and loading areas as well as more hangars and separating commercial services and general aviation. It also includes plans for an air traffic control tower if needed.

For any of those upgrades and expansions projects to be eligible for approval from the FAA they have to be in the master plan.

The estimated cost of all the possible projects is approximately $120.7 million, with $104.9 million eligible for federal funding and approximately $15.7 million coming from the airport.

Committee member Kenneth Lauer asked if the plan was approved, could changes be made to it later.

Dmyterko said that changes could be made, and he encouraged the airport to do yearly work sessions to determine what its needs were.

Airport Manager Jennifer Lopez said some changes would require additional environmental studies and research, which could delay projects.

“I just wanted to make sure it’s not set in stone,” Lauer said.

Some of the airport operators present at the meeting expressed concerns about safety as well as their displeasure with relocating the hangar and traffic.

Bob Fahnestock said that he was “pretty much completely opposed” to moving the helicopter traffic to the south part of the airport.

Rob Martin was also opposed to the move and said committee members should start telling the City Council what they recommend and not what is being recommended to them.

Dmyterko said he was told by the city from the start of the project that moving to the north was not an option.

John Gustafson said that the airport should include crash fire support.

Jeff Young of Five Star Helicopters said that the Boulder City Municipal Airport is “very quirky” and that he was “astounded” that there is no safety response there. He also thought it would be a good idea to study the flight routes as there so many commercial airplanes, commercial helicopters and general aviation aircraft operating there.

Dmyterko said aircraft rescue and fire fighting was not part of the master plan because the airport was not eligible for FAA funding. If the airport wanted to put any facility like that on the property, it would have to pay for it all.

“I think we’re overthinking things,” said attendee Rich Moynihan. “It’s a plan. … We’re not necessarily going to lengthen the runway or taxiway, but we can.”

Other concerns included making sure changes at the airport would not hurt the businesses that operate there and being financially responsible.

“This is based on demand,” said committee member Kurt Goodfellow. “We will one day go for the funding if it’s needed.”

Chairman Deborah Downs encouraged the public to comment about the project at http://bouldercity.airportstudy.com by March 9. The comments will be part of the presentation before council, which Dmyterko estimates to be in one or two months.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.

MOST READ
LISTEN TO THE TOP FIVE HERE
THE LATEST
Kicking Off the New Year

Boulder City High School held its traditional back-to-school assembly this past Friday. School spirit and enthusiasm filled the gym as classes competed against one another to hold the coveted Spirit Stick. Aside from games, members of the fall sports teams performed to songs.

BC Electric’s Medo makes accusations about e-bike/scooter law

While the great majority of public comment surrounding the issues of unsafe usage — often by juveniles — of e-bikes and electric scooters was firmly on the side of the city “doing something,” not everyone is onboard.

So where does that RDA money come from?

It wasn’t all about donuts or whether super bright pink is an appropriate color for a building in the historic district. In addition to donuts it was about, well, dollars.

King to participate in essay contest

Last week, it was announced that fourth graders throughout the state are invited to participate in an essay contest, with the winner receiving the honor of lighting the 2025 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C.

Really better buy that helmet

With a couple of significant amendments, the city council voted unanimously to pass an ordinance regulating the use of e-bikes and e-scooters in Boulder City. The ordinance passed unanimously Tuesday and will take effect on Sept. 18.

Nevada Way to go Pink … and pay for the privilege

The main topic of discussion was color. As in color of a building when the board of the Boulder City Redevelopment Agency (aka the city council) met two weeks ago.

It’s Been Too Long

Photos by Ron Eland/Boulder City Review

City to nix admin services dept. in favor of deputy city manager

In a move that is really little more than “cleanup” (i.e., bringing official city code into sync with decisions made by the city council more than a year ago), the council voted to approve changes to city code related to the created-but-not-yet-filled position of deputy city manager.