Port approves airport funds; county vote set for Monday

The Port of Whitman County Thursday, April 7, approved $250,000 in funding to go toward the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport (PMRA) runway realignment project.

The 2-0 vote was logged after Port Commissioner Tom Kammerzell recused himself before the discussion on funding began. Port Commissioners Dan Boone of Pullman and John Love of Garfield approved the funding.

The Port agreed to assist the airport with $125,000 in 2017 and the same amount in 2018, subject to the final approval of the commission during each year’s budget process.

Port Executive Director Joe Poiré said the port and county commissioners had been in discussions regarding providing funding for the project and decided together to support the project.

“The commissioners decided to work with the county commissioners and come up with a doable budget in order to come up with the seven or eight percent match that needed to be funded locally,” Poiré said.

Kammerzell recused himself from the meeting, discussion and voting due to a conflict of interest with the project. The runway realignment project required the mitigation of wetlands from the airport, and Kammerzell’s land along the South Fork of the Palouse River was ultimately chosen for the mitigation for $284,000.

“He voluntarily recused himself,” Poiré said. “He doesn’t want any conflict of interest.”

Kammerzell, who represents county District 3 on the Port board, returned to the port meeting after the airport topic was concluded.

Airport director Tony Bean said the required local match amount has been reached with this contribution as well as others. He reported funding has been received from the City of Pullman and the City of Moscow, both in the amount of $2.5 million; Ed and Beatrice Schweitzer, $1 million; Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, $1 million; the University of Idaho, $500,000; Washington State University, $1 million; Latah County, $100,000 per year; WSDOT aviation, $1.25 million; the Port, $250,000; and Whitman County, if passed next week, $250,000. Bean said the figure from WSU is a tentative number.

“They’re going to have to incur costs likely because the majority of the property is WSU property,” he said. The total amount contributed by the university will depend on those costs incurred, Bean added.

Bean also said the total project cost is projected to be between $89-$119 million, with $89 million being the target. The local match funds contributed equal to an 8.8 percent local match for the target figure and a 6.7 percent local match at $119 million.

“We’re well in the range we need to be,” Bean said, noting the local match needs to be between 7.23 and 8.125 percent.

The rest of the funding for the project is coming from FAA grants, Bean said, which the airport applies for annually. Last year, the FAA contributed $16 million.

“The next one is going to be bigger than that,” Bean said, adding he expects the FAA will contribute about $20 million annually until the project is complete.

Bean also reported on the status on the project. He said the first big thing to complete was the wetland mitigation, which was completed at Kammerzell’s property about two-and-a-half miles southeast of Colfax.

“The wetland mitigation is complete, and that had to be done first,” Bean said.

The rest of project is now in design phases, and Bean said there is now a construction package out for bid on the land the airport already owns. He added the airport is working on securing the land for the project it does not already own.

“We’re in negotiations with all the affected landowners,” he said. WSU is the biggest landowner affected by the project, Bean added.

The project will include a redesign of the runway in its current location, with it also projected to extend by 400 feet.

“We’re right sizing it for the aircrafts that come in today,” Bean said.

The airport has been operating under an exemption since 2006, with the agreement to bring the runway into FAA standards.

“We are bringing the runway and the taxiway into FAA criteria,” Bean said.

He reported the runway and the taxiway are too close together, only being 200 feet apart, centerline-to-centerline.

“New runway and taxiway will be centerline-to-centerline 400 feet apart,” Bean said.

Bean added the project, in addition to bringing the airport into FAA standards, will be meeting the demands of increased traffic.

“We have an airport that was built for a 19-seat aircraft, and now we’re landing 76 seats,” he said. “We’re filling all of those.”

He said the airport in 2014 saw 40,000 passengers, which was a record at that time, and then saw 50,000 in 2015.

“We’re trending right now for 2016 for 60,000,” he said. “The growth is definitely there, and we’re trying to keep up.”

County Commissioner Michael Largent, commission chair, said the county’s contribution to the airport fund is expected to be discussed and approved at the next commissioners meeting Monday, April 18. He said the Port and county had been in discussions prior to the Port’s approval of funding, and it seemed like a good idea to contribute funding together.

“It seemed appropriate to both the Port and the county to support economic development with economic development funds,” he said. “We put our heads together. We do work pretty closely with the Port these days, and our interests do overlap.”

The county would also be approving $250,000, with $125,000 to be paid in both 2017 and 2018, Largent said.

The county commissioners will meet Monday in the commissioners’ chambers at the courthouse at 10 a.m. All commissioners are expected to be present and to be voting as well.