Portland Board of Aviation Adds to Plan for Capital Projects

Sep. 22—With the runway extension project in its final stages, it's time to look at what's next.

Portland Board of Aviation reviewed its capital improvement plan Wednesday, looking at potential changes or additions to the document that lays out proposed airport projects for the next five years.

Jason Clearwaters of engineering firm Butler, Fairman and Seufert had explained to the board last month that their updated plan will be due to the Federal Aviation Administration by Dec. 1. On Wednesday, he told them that the original 4,000-foot section of runway, which is about 25 years old, may be eligible for federal funding for rehabilitation within the next five to six years. He asked board members if they would like to add paving the original runway to the capital improvement plan and whether it would move ahead of other priorities.

Board members Faron Parr, Clyde Bray and John Ferguson, absent Mitch Sutton, agreed that they would move paving ahead of construction of a wildlife control and security fence.

They also discussed how to utilize the about $110,000 per year for five years the airport will be eligible for through the federal infrastructure bill passed late last year, settling on building a new storage building for snow removal equipment.

Clearwaters will update the capital improvement plan — it also includes the wildlife fence, terminal apron expansion and reconstructing the current terminal apron — for review at its October meeting with a target of final approval in November.

The board also handled several items related to the runway extension project, for which a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held last week. The runway is open with temporary markings at its new length. Beginning Tuesday, the airport will close to flight traffic for about five days to allow for work on grooving and permanent markings along the full 5,500-foot length.

Board members also approved payments of $35,819.57 to HIS Constructors and $1.48 million to Milestone Contractors for work on the extension project. They approved an FAA grant request of almost $1.5 million.

They also OK'd a final change order for HIS, reducing the firm's total on the project by nearly $425,000 (about 17%). Tim Barkey of Butler, Fairman and Seufert explained that the savings came mostly from using native soil as back fill for the project.

Clearwaters also reported to the board that an FAA flight check last week revealed some "irregularities" with precision approach path indicators. Butler, Fairman and Seufert is working on a solution for those issues.

In other business, the board:

—Discussed increasing the rent for hangars from the current $75 per month. (Renters get a discount if they pay for the full year in advance.) As some hangars have undergone improvements with new doors and concrete floors, board members decided to set rent on a hangar-by-hangar basis. They plan to evaluate the hangars and consider a proposal for rent in October.

—Was reminded that the airport will host an event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday with Fort Wayne Young Eagles during which those 8 to 17 years old will be able to take free plane rides. Those who would like to participate can register in advance at yeday.org. Tavzel said more than 20 have already registered.

—Heard from airport manager Hal Tavzel that the facility sold 10,295 gallons of fuel in August for $58,990.12. He said those numbers are a record in his decade at the airport. ( August 2021 numbers were 6,434 gallons for $25,275.71.)

—Had an extended back-and-forth with hangar renter Rick Owens, who said he has an interested buyer and may be close to selling his plane and moving it from the airport. (The board had sent Owens a notice to vacate his hangar early this year because he had not been flying his plane, but then agreed to allow him time to attempt to sell it.) The board returned to the topic at the end of the meeting, after Owens had left, and voted to send him a notice to vacate the hangar by Oct. 31.

—Learned the following from Tavzel: the airport's pancake breakfast and fly-in on Aug. 27 drew more than 300 visitors with 20 planes flying; Trevor Fennig, who learned to fly a helicopter in 2012 after he was paralyzed in a 2009 gun accident, recently made his first solo airplane flight; there is an issue with the data line to the airport's weather station that will need to be repaired.

—Approved a fuel permit agreement with Josh Johnson and an amendment to Sonrise Aviation's lease to allow expansion of its hangar.

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