May 22—Luzerne County Council members Kevin Lescavage and Brian Thorton toured the Wyoming Valley Airport last week with incoming county Manager Romilda Crocamo as part of their push to increase investment in the 110-acre, county-owned facility in Forty Fort and Wyoming.
Established in 1929, the airport was acquired by the county in the 1940s.
Lescavage has proposed a $6.5 million American Rescue allocation for the airport, saying the county is giving the lion's share of the federal funding to outside entities and should be using some to take care of the county-owned asset.
The county has approximately $7.7 million in remaining American Rescue funds not yet earmarked after factoring in deductions for outside entities, internal projects and yet-to-be finalized public relief and small business grant programs.
Valley Aviation runs the county airport as the fixed base operator, and company representatives and siblings Dr. Charles Scrobola and James Scrobola outlined the need for improved taxiway configurations to increase safety as planes are landing and taking off.
The airport's plan also calls for new hangars and the demolition of some old ones.
Charles said the facility regularly receives inquiries from people seeking hangar space to store their aircraft — some from other states — and the airport has no more room available. The county is missing out on an opportunity to generate revenue and increase traffic at the facility, he said.
James said the county could opt to build hangars and rent space out or enter into long-term land leases for entities willing to construct their own hangars.
Taxiways and other upgrades already have been designed in a thick master plan the county completed in 2020 through consultant McFarland-Johnson Inc., an engineering company based in Binghamton, New York.
While the work was estimated at $6.5 million back then, the Scrobolas said the costs have since increased due to inflation.
Depending on what council is willing to allocate, Valley Aviation would work with the county administration to identify the most pressing work to be completed, Charles said.
"We want the most bang for the buck," his brother said.
Thornton said other areas more successfully promote and maximize the benefits of their airports.
Lescavage said he originally questioned why the county needed an airport but was sold when he previously visited the facility to learn more about it.
A key reason for Lescavage's unwavering support was the airport's busy pilot training program.
Approximately 100 students are learning to fly at any given time, and the facility has a practice simulator to supplement actual time in the air, James said. There's also a chapter of an organization there aimed at getting women involved in aviation.
The facility is providing a valuable service addressing a pilot shortage, said Lescavage and Thornton.
"I bet 90% of the county does not know that," Lescavage said of the pilot training.
James said there's a misperception that the facility is only used by wealthy people.
As if on cue, a medevac helicopter landed to fuel up after transporting a patient, which occurs multiple times a week. State police aircraft also regularly stop there for fuel, James said.
Lescavage said the airport's value for emergency services and law enforcement throughout the county make it eligible for American Rescue funding, noting the purchase of a fire truck for an outside entity had been deemed eligible.
Crocamo described the airport as a "hidden jewel" that could be a "central hub for economic development in this area."
Hired on May 9, Crocamo is set to officially start work on Thursday and said she will work with the county engineering department and airport to ensure council has all the information it needs to vote on the matter at an upcoming meeting.
Crocamo added that project management will be a key emphasis of her administration, and she also wants to keep studies like the airport master plan circulating and in regular discussion instead of sitting on a shelf.
Thornton said most of the county's American Rescue funding is now allocated, and he fears the county-owned airport will be shut out.
Lescavage publicly voiced the need to make the airport a priority several times at meetings and said he has encouraged colleagues to visit the facility.
The Scrobolas said a funding opportunity like American Rescue won't occur again, and they reiterated council members have a standing invitation to stop in at any time. The siblings had urged council to allocate funds for the facility during the May 9 work session.
"You're the owners," James told council members.
Councilman Tim McGinley said he stopped by the facility earlier this month and had been there previously. The facility is "certainly an asset to the county," he said. Ideally, the county administration would have submitted an application as part of other county-owned projects earlier in the process, he said.
"The timing isn't great, but I think there are ways we can help the airport," McGinley said.
Charles said he appreciates the renewed interest after past pushes over the past two decades that never gained significant traction.
"We are ecstatic that somebody is showing interest," he told Thornton, Lescavage and Crocamo.
The airport has required little county general fund investment over the decades because the state and federal government had covered most capital project costs, officials have said. The county receives a portion of revenue from fuel sales at the facility.
The county also owns an office building — the West Side Annex — near the airport complex along Route 11, and Forty Fort manages the county's adjacent 35-acre sports complex as part of an overall plan to make the borough a recreation center.
In addition, the county is remodeling the former Air Reserve Center in an environmentally-conscious way to house the county recycling department — a project fully covered by years of saving excess landfill fees and grant funding. The county had taken possession of the vacant property around 2019, in part because it is near the airport and annex.
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Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
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