Possible new developments coming to POWBAC

At Thursday's Port of Whitman County meeting, future building plans were discussed at the Port of Whitman Business Air Center.

The reason behind new buildings at POWBAC came from an anonymous local company that was interested in space at POWBAC. There currently is no space available in any existing port buildings or as a sublease from existing tenants.

The port staff presented to the commissioner two possible approaches to future building development at POWBAC.

Presented were a short term and a long term plan. The short term plan is primarily for a single tenant on airport property where the long term plan would be an economic development plan on Industrial Park property.

For the short term plan, it is recommended to build a hangar on airport property that is approximately 40X50 with 14-foot sidewalls.

Port staff received a quote for a 40X50X14 pole building with and without bi-fold hangar doors. If the hangar is to have the bi-fold doors the approximate cost would be $60,150 and without the bi-fold doors $50,150.

These quotes include labor, material and tax, but does not include earthwork, utility extensions, internal wiring, Avista costs, internal plumbing or finishing.

It is anticipated that the additional work not included in the quote would be about $20,000 extra.

For the long term plan, it was suggested to design a phased plan to develop lot 8, 1.65 acres, to house multiple single buildings or a few larger, modular space buildings, approximately 40X100X16 in size to accommodate multiple tenants.

If smaller buildings were to be built they would cost roughly $80,000 and a larger building would be about $150,000. The staff informed the commissioners that if they are interested in this long term plan an engineer could be hired for approximately $10,000 to create a conceptual design.

While the port staff doesn't have a firm recommendation for this project, there is money in the capital improvement budget to move either the short or long term concept forward.

The port commissioners did not finalize a decision at the meeting, but plan to look more into both options at their next strategic planning meeting on Wednesday, April 29, in Pullman.