Council gives nod to 185 new hangars

There is at least one part of Boulder City that is set to see growth in the coming years. A lot of growth.

If the plans given initial approval by the city council on Tuesday night come to fruition, the Boulder City Municipal Airport will see an increase of nearly 150% in the number of hangars. This is on top of a Federal Aviation Administration-funded project to add a control tower to the “small town” airport.

The area to be developed has gone through a couple of revisions in the past few years. In 2023, the council heard and ultimately rejected a plan to build an “elite” RV park on a large part of the land set for hangars which would have included a clubhouse that is not in a tent and that has restrooms. The council and, in particular, Mayor Joe Hardy has been a big proponent of such a facility due to the fact that city gatherings of more than a few dozen people have to happen at either the old Elaine K. Smith Building which has very limited parking and virtually no amenities or in the aforementioned tent structure at the Boulder Creek Golf Course which has no attached restrooms .

That proposal failed, with Councilman Steve Walton saying at the time that he would prefer to see the area used for additional hangars. So, earlier this year, the city put out requests for proposals for development of that 41-acre area (known as the Northwest Land Development Area) as well as a much smaller three-acre area at the east end of the airport.

According to Airport Manager Marissa Adou, three proposals were received and, after evaluation by a committee, city staff was recommending two of the three go forward .

The first, from a company called High Flying Hangar would see 170 additional hangars, plus a clubhouse. Additionally, the company is willing to partner with a commercial property broker for marketing to restaurants to address the lack of food service on, and around, the airport. The planned investment for this area will be $50 million.

On the east end of the airport, Shadow Air Management proposes three buildings of five hangars each. Each hangar will be 66’x65’x24’ and a 900’x75’ asphalt taxi lane in front of the hangars connecting to existing taxi way infrastructure. The planned investment will be $6.3 million.

A third proposal from John Gustafson, who owns an auto repair business in Huntington Beach, Calif. and a home in Boulder City, was to develop a restaurant in a corner of the Northwest Land Development Area. Adou said that the committee was encouraging Gustafson to work with High Flying Hangar on using part of the space they intend to develop as a restaurant.

The controversies of the past half decade over airport hangar leases was addressed by Walton who led off with his getting-to-be-standard disclaimer about “not asking questions you don’t already know the answer to.” . He asked Adou about future subdivisions of the hangars and was told that may happen but only to a property management company or companies and not to individuals.

He also brought up the still-fraught issue of lease rates.

“I’m not going to ask you the specific prices,” he said. “We’re not making up these numbers and they’re established from actual appraisals, right?”

While Adou answered that, indeed, appraisals had been conducted, the controversy was never about “made-up” rates. It was about the fact that the city council ignored the recommendation of their then-city manager and declined to exercise their right to take ownership of the hangars after 20 years and lease them out at much higher building lease rates instead of very inexpensive land lease rates, a move that was seen by many as a favorable deal for wealthy pilots, most of whom are not residents of Boulder City.

Newest member of the council Denise Ashurst said, “This question is properly from the mayor. Can we use the meeting and conference room down there once it’s built?” Hardy was not in attendance at this meeting.

“It would be certainly open to the public,” Adou replied.