Commissioners decide on two projects for FAA money

County commissioners voted last Wednesday to move forward with two projects that would continue to improve the county’s airport. Several projects were discussed, but the commissioners chose to go forward with an AWOS weather system and a revenue generating hanger and to submit them for them for the 2011 Federal Aviation Administration grant money and the state for five percent match money.

The county has approximately $500,000 available for the projects in AIP funds and matching grant money from the state.

The AIP, or Airport Improvement Program, which is a program of the Federal Aviation Administration, provides grants to public agencies—and, in some cases, to private owners and entities—for the planning and development of public-use airports that are included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). For large and medium primary hub airports, the grant covers 75 percent of eligible costs (or 80 percent for noise program implementation). For small primary, reliever, and general aviation airports, the grant covers 95 percent of eligible costs.

The Automated Weather/Surface Observing System (AWOS/ASOS) is a suite of sensors which measure, collect and disseminate weather data to help meteorologists, pilots and flight dispatchers prepare and monitor weather forecasts, plan flight routes and provide necessary information for correct takeoffs and landings. The system makes weather information available to pilots, which was previously unavailable, except at airports with trained human weather observers.

At a meeting on Nov. 1, Stelling engineer Jeff Walla said that having an AWOS system in place is a huge asset. Steve Temple, a local pilot and airport board member, said that having a weather system in place is essentially a concern of safety as well.

In addition to funds from the FAA, the county has also received funds from the BitterRoot Economic Development District, Inc (BREDD), the federally designated economic development district for Western Montana Region covering Ravalli, Mineral, and Missoula counties. BREDD was awarded $627,000 of grant money from a U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant to help communities in Montana create jobs and boost local economies and $60,000 of that will be channeled into creating essentially a business plan for the Mineral County Airport.

One of the things the study will do is hopefully tell the county what they can and cannot do out near and at the airport. Kevin Chamberlain, from the extension office, said at the meeting on Nov. 1, that there is a lot of gray area about what can and can’t go on out there. He said that often times when they’ve had somebody interested in putting their business out there, they weren’t able to tell them exactly what they can and can’t do and where they could put things.

The scope of work for the BREDD grant includes three main points: project coordination, access existing documents and develop a needs assessment and business plan.

Last Wednesday, the commissioners also decided to hold a public hearing discussing flying model airplanes at the airport at a later date.

Clark Conrow said that he felt if they can use the airport, they should.

“If we can use that airport, let’s use it,” Conrow said. “I don’t care what type [of planes] they are.”