SCRAA Holds Quarterly Meeting
The area where a proposed regional airport would be built along US Highway 163.
Pella, Iowa – The South Central Regional Airport Agency held its quarterly meeting this past week, and the board continues to await word from the Federal Aviation Administration about the environmental assessment of the proposed site.
A resolution approving the officers of the SCRAA was passed, with Jim Hansen being Chair. David Barnes will be Vice Chair and Joe Warrick is the Secretary Treasurer.
Those appointments begin July 1, 2017 and extend to June 30, 2018.
Resolution approving the fiscal year 2017-18 budget for the SCRAA was also passed. Total operating expenses for the board is set at $15,100.00.
Insurance is the biggest expense, coming in at $5,500.00, while audit fees consume $4,200.00. Legal fees account for $3,000, and the remaining is used for website, training, and mileage reimbursement.
The budget is exactly the same as the previous year’s budget.
Jerry Searle, consultant to the SCRAA, spoke with the board about the transcript and written testimony from the public hearing, held back in November of 2016. Searle said issues have been addressed from those comments, submitted both at the meeting and electronically, providing the FAA with the report.
Searle said that the FAA has nearly completed their review of the draft environmental assessment, with comments as to the adequacy of the draft document expected in the near future.
If the FAA finds the draft environmental assessment acceptable, then a draft finding of no significant impact will be prepared and then published for public review.
Chair Jim Hansen spoke after the meeting about when the environmental assessment is expected from the FAA. “Any time”, is the best estimate available. “We kind of hoped to have it by tonight.”
“If they approve it [environmental assessment], the next step will be to publish that proposed finding of no significant impact [FONSI]”, explained Hansen.
There will be a 30 day comment period for the public. Those comments will then be sent to the FAA, which will consider the comments, then either issue or not issue the final finding in the environmental assessment.
If the FAA approves, the board would then hire a consultant for land acquisition.
The meeting on February 28th was delayed nearly a month after the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution wishing to remove itself from the 28E agreement for the regional airport.
It takes unanimous approval by the three entities of the agreement, but the City of Pella and City of Oskaloosa voted against the resolution, effectively ending the supervisor’s request.
Mahaska County Supervisors told KNIA/KRLS News in January, “The other way we can move forward is we can just say we are out. We can un-appoint our official to the board who is there, and have no appointment.”
Mahaska County Supervisors have set aside $50,000.00 to hire an attorney to assist them in exploring the 28E agreement.
Mahaska County has no financial responsibility for the regional airport under the 28E agreement.
There is a clause in the 28E agreement that allows for parties to the agreement to collect damages from a party in the agreement, if a party refuses to comply with a request from the other parties involved. Those penalties can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The conversation about the closure of 220th Street for the airport could be one of those triggers if the county is not satisfied with an agricultural crossing that is being planned for the airport.
Hansen said that Mahaska County wouldn’t have any financial liability in building the agricultural access road, as the airport project would be responsible for the cost.
The SCRAA will host its next meeting at a time yet to be determined.
