Dubuque Airport taking cue from park

To form an idea about what the new Dubuque Regional Airport terminal will look like, think Eagle Point Park. The prairie architectural style the park is known for is being incorporated into the terminal design. "The design is beautiful," council member Ric Jones said.

"You could put it in Eagle Point Park and it would look like it belonged there." The $39.9 million project is scheduled for completion in late 2016. The terminal project will be let for bids in July, with the contract awarded in September. "A ground breaking could be held in September or October," Airport Manager Bob Grierson said.

The new terminal will sit near U.S. 61 at its intersection with Merlin Lane on the south end of the property. A new access road also will be constructed. The terminal will cover 33,000 square feet, which is three times larger than the current terminal. The old terminal building is expected to be used by the University of Dubuque. "It's going to be a much more comfortable environment, with the ability to expand," Grierson said.

Marty Johnson, of Straka Johnson Architects, said the building is designed in three pods, and the prairie style will be used throughout to give the building a low, ground-hugging appearance with deep roof overhangs that are consistent with Midwest prairie style.

Local materials will be used. More than $33 million will be funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, with the airport adding $5.2 million and the state of Iowa just more than $1 million. Grierson said it is not general tax dollars funding the project but user fees. He explained that commercial passengers pay a 7.5 percent ticket tax, and every gallon of aviation fuel sold adds about 25 cents.

"The airport generates about $2 million to $2.5 million per year for this pot of funds that is controlled by Congress and the FAA," Grierson said. "We've been paying in a number of years and now it is coming back to the airport." Grierson said the airport has been banking funds from a state fund for the project, and the airport generates some funds itself through a passenger facilities charge and a customer facilities charge applied to rental cars. "I've just got to say how impressed I am with the foresight of putting these funds away and letting them accumulate when it was about (using them) someday," Jones said. In other action, the council: * Approved, 7-0, a request to rezone 2.4 acres on Eagle Point Drive from single-family residential to agricultural. * Approved, 7-0, a request to rezone 890 Cedar Cross Road from commercial service and wholesale district to general commercial.

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