Terre Haute Regional Airport continues focus on development

A $100,000 expenditure for a planner/engineer is proposed for the Terre Haute Regional Airport’s 2020 budget. The position is intended to coordinate efforts for development around the airport.

That growth could take a big step if a proposed casino is approved in a referendum this fall.

Last month the airport formed a task force to look at the Indiana 46/40 corridor.

Airport Executive Director Jeff Hauser said the corridor group’s main focus is on infrastructure such as water, electricity and natural gas. Also, “what kind of tenants [at the airport property] will be moving in.”

People are calling to determine if the airport has land available for development, Hauser added.

“With the FAA, there are only certain things that we can do with the 1,400 acres that we have around us,” Hauser said.

“We are trying to get a lot of folks together to determine what is the right way to move forward. The group is still in infancy stages” to formulate a development plan for the corridor.

The airport currently uses Indianapolis-based Woolpert Inc. as its engineering consult.

After the meeting, airport board President Rachel Leslie said the board is “working through if we want to have an elevated [engineering] consultant to implement the strategy on the 46 corridor full time, or if we want to have somebody on board [full time] every day that is here that is working as part of the personnel team day to day,” Leslie said.

“At the end of the day, we know that somebody every day is going to have to be working strategically with our team to advance whatever that plan is,” Leslie said. “We understand there is some urgency to get some of those things accomplished because of the timeline of all of these things happening on the 46 corridor.”

Whether the board spends the money will depend on the corridor plan, the board president said.

“The plan might come out and we might need a specific niche based on what the plan says — we are not sure,” Leslie said. “The best way to look at that is let’s put it in the [2020] budget and if we don’t spend it, it is OK, but if we don’t have it there, then we can’t implement the strategy as we won’t have the resources available to us” for engineering work, Leslie said.

“Let’s be honest,” said board member Bernice Helman said after the meeting. “The economic development side of this is relatively new to the area. We are navigating through this, and want to be sure we have an allocation set aside so that we can execute a plan. We don’t know the specifics of it, but we feel like there is probably going to be a need for it based on what we expect to come.”

Board member Rick Burger said he sees “a lot of potential,” for future development on the city’s east side and at the airport.

“Five years out, wait and see what this side of the city is, as I think we will see a lot of changes that are positive,” Burger said.

Other budget items

In addition to the funds for a planner/engineer, the board approved the addition of $200,000 to be budgeted in 2020 from its Rainy Day Fund to replace a roof on an airport building used by Indiana State University’s flight school. The airport’s Rainy Day Fund currently has $299,978, said Richard Baker, board treasurer.

Additionally, the board approved $50,000 for a new public safety officer vehicle and $100,000 for parking lot lights in the proposed budget. The board must still approve salaries for the proposed budget.

The proposed budget, currently at more than $3.3 million, is about 5.24 percent higher than last year, however, the cost for a truck, lights and roof are one-time expenditures, Baker told the board.

“If you look back two years, this [proposed budget] is only 3.1 percent over two years ago, so we are not doing too badly,” Baker said.

Future planning

Nick Isenberg, engineering consultant with Woolpert, told the board the airport needs to plan for larger, overall impact projects, instead of working to get smaller, partial projects completed.

“The FAA is taking that very seriously and pushing dates back to program [projects] better for earlier [designated] money and bigger programs,” Isenberg said.

As an example, Huntingburg Airport in Dubois County had for years been planning a multi-phase approach for a new runway, Isenberg told the board. The airport this year was awarded $7 million from the FAA for the runway extension, which includes relocating utilities, lowering a county road and constructing a tunnel over the road near the end of the runway, paving and lights for runway and taxiway. That work is expected to start next year.

Leslie pointed to Evansville Regional Airport as another example. That airport was awarded $8.9 million in FAA funds this year for a reconstruction project to prevent flooding and sinkhole development.

“When we are thinking about this 46 corridor specifically and are talking about the future of the airport, that [planning] has to be a part of that,” Leslie said. “I think bigger asks will take longer to get funded, but they [FAA] will fund them in one big chunk.”

In another issue, the airport is expected to be reimbursed $902,000 from the FAA for its west quad hangar project. If reimbursed, the airport could use that funding to pay for three additional hangars. The project originally included six new box hangars and a central meeting area, but was reduced to three hangars and the meeting area.

Isenberg said the board may need to reach a decision by the end of this month on the additional hangars as current work is slated to be completed by next month.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached 812-231-4204 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter@TribStarHoward.

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