Lake Chelan Airport Gets State Money to Bring Water to Planned Extension

Mar. 18—CHELAN — Lake Chelan Airport is one step closer to expansion with $5.7 million allocated by the state.

Supplemental Senate Bill 5651, which was delivered to the governor's desk March 11, included more than $10.5 million for 12th District projects, including the Lake Chelan Airport.

"It's extremely gratifying to help bring this funding home to the 12th District," Rep. Mike Steele, R- Chelan, said in a news release.

Wade Farris, Chelan city administrator, said Chelan officials have already asked the Federal Aviation Administration for an environmental assessment on the airport extension. That assessment could take two years to complete, he said, but might only take a few months, and everything appears to be funded now.

The Chelan City Council approved an airport layout plan Nov. 9. The goal is to lengthen the runway from 3,500 feet to 4,400 feet to handle more types of airplanes and more hangars.

The $24 million runway project will be paid 90% by an FAA grant, 5% by a state Department of Transportation grant, and 5% by the city and Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority, the latter of which is a joint owner of the airport, Farris said.

But those groups couldn't cover the other part of the project: getting water out to the proposed extension and any businesses or hangars that may spring up, he said. Between 30 and 40 people already have asked to build hangars at the airport, he said, which could generate income.

Finding a way to bring more water to the airport has been in the works for at least five years, he said. No designs for that were made due to lack of funding, he added. But since Steele helped the airport secure money, Farris said he hopes the design and subsequent steps will be forthcoming.

"The $5.7 (million) is what our expert was suggesting," he said of the water line cost. "But that was last year, so we could be looking at trying to get some other sources of funding to complete it, but we don't know that until we actually go to bid and see what it's going to be."

"(We're going) to tap into our existing plumbing out there and then increase the fire flow of existing hydrants... So that any structures that are there have adequate fire flow (amount of water available for fire-fighting purposes)," he said.

The airport has seen increasing numbers of larger charter planes, Harris said, instead of small single-engine propeller planes. Officials added a counter about two months ago, which indicated there were 188 takeoffs and landings between March 1 and 14.

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