Expansion Plans for Kendall-Tamiami Airport Face Funding Issues

Feb. 15--The Miami-Dade Aviation Department may have to limit the scope of the Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport runway expansion if it doesn't get enough money to pay for the $19.6 million project, officials conceded Monday at a Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations meeting.

Aviation officials also said they cannot start the design phase of the project until money starts to roll in -- which may not happen until 2008.

In December, the Federal Aviation Administration approved the county's plans to expand a 5,000-foot runway at Tamiami airport by 1,798 feet to the west and 550 feet eastward.

Aviation Department officials have said all along that they need help from state and federal governments to cover the expansion costs -- estimated at $14 million in 2005.

But the federal government did not allocate any money. Tamiami was, after all, competing with airports across the nation for funding. And even if the county still gets the $10 million it wants from the Florida Department of Transportation, that wouldn't suffice.

"We have to scramble here and see how we can fund this project," said Jose Abreu, director of the county aviation department.

Abreu said the county is counting on the state money and looking at "innovative ways" to pay for the other half of the cost. Miami-Dade might ask some tenants to match state funding, he said.

If not, Sunil Harman, the director of aviation planning said the department may have to expand the runway by 1,000 feet first, and do the rest in increments.

Abandoning the project, however, is not an option.

Aviation officials say the airport must expand to keep up with the booming general aviation industry, recently emerging as a top choice for business professionals who want to avoid delays and hassles that have become routine at commercial airports.

Deputy Aviation Director Bruce Drum said the longer runway would draw more business to the airport by allowing private jets to take on more fuel, and fly higher and longer distances, while also minimizing the noise that bothers neighbors.

"The purpose is to make it a more economically-viable airport," he said of the project, which is scheduled to be finished by 2010 if the money is received by 2008.

Also Monday, homeowners expressed disgust with a November ruling by the County Commission to waive a safety-zone law so a developer can build 446 houses and a shopping center on 68 acres just north of the airport in a buffer zone in the path of a runway.

Aviation officials reiterated their stance to the homeowners. They said they advised the commission that the law could not be enforced because the terms were poorly defined.

According to the law, homes are allowed in an area close to the runway, but entirely banned from the buffer zone, which is further away and where accidents are less likely.

"The bottom line is that the County Commission voted to let that happen," said Frank Cobo, a resident and former School Board member.

The Aviation Department is revisiting the zoning rules. But Drum said it would be another six months before they have a specific proposal of any changes.