Concepts for a new hangar at the Geauga County Airport are in motion, Manager Ric Blamer said after Geauga County Commissioners approved a reimbursement request for a new parallel taxiway during their Dec. 10 meeting.
Concepts for a new hangar at the Geauga County Airport are in motion, Manager Ric Blamer said after Geauga County Commissioners approved a reimbursement request for a new parallel taxiway during their Dec. 10 meeting.
Airport Manager Ric Blamer attended the meeting representing the Geauga County Airport Authority, who had put in their final reimbursement request for a Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program grant for the construction of a parallel taxiway.
“This was the first phase, the design phase,” Blamer said.
A motion to approve the request passed with no discussion. Following the vote, Commissioner Tim Lennon asked about the new hangar project, for which the airport authority is set to appear before commissioners Dec. 17.
The hangar project involves the construction of an eight-unit, approximately 12,500-square-foot hangar similar to one built several years ago, Blamer said.
“It’s essentially the same size footprint,” he said.
The hangar will also be able to accommodate larger aircraft, he said, noting one plane scheduled to be housed in the new hangar has a 60-foot wingspan.
Spaces in the hangar have been sold for over a year, he said.
There was a waitlist of 32 as of the morning of the meeting. Spaces sell almost as soon as they open, Blamer said.
Fuel sales at the airport have increased, almost doubling in the past four to five years, he said. Hangar rentals have also been bumped up and are now in what he referred to as a “premium range.”
“We’re pretty close to being above most of the other airports in the area, but we still have people wanting to come here,” he said.
The parallel taxiway will make a difference in attracting people, Lennon said, which Blamer echoed.
“We’re kinda this little-big airport right now,” Blamer said. “It’s gonna really put us over the top.”
With the Ohio Airport System Plan, which is updated every 10 years, expected to be released next year, Blamer hoped to see the airport’s economic impact.
“In 2014, when it was last done, we had an economic impact of about $10.8 million,” he said. “Which was actually higher than Lake County, Ashtabula (County), Portage County and pretty close to what Cuyahoga County was contributing.”
“We’re a real powerhouse in Northeast Ohio,” he added later.
Lennon said he doesn’t think people realize how much business-related travel goes through the airport and applauds the authority for utilizing the airport to its full potential.
Looking to the future, the airport will also be offering ground school for instrument and private pilots in the early part of the new year, Blamer said.
In other business, Geauga County Veterans Services Director Michele Pemberton came before commissioners alongside President John Riha to discuss the Courthouse Veterans Memorial Project.
Earlier in the year, Pemberton was contacted regarding a plaque dedicated by the Chardon Auxiliary in 1957 located in the northwest corner of the Geauga County Courthouse. With renovations underway, it needed to be moved.
“So, we took it back to our office. A citizen donated his time and redid this plaque for us,” she said. “So, we have been housing it since then.”
They have been working on a plan to relocate both the plaque and existing killed-in-action memorial over the past months, she said.
“We have decided (to relocate) the VFW plaque to the existing memorial that is already there and (add) a veterans KIA for those (involved in) Operation Enduring Freedom,” she said. “It would incorporate both the two new stones, a walkway that would make it accessible for anyone, replace the uneven brick pavers and to include a place for people to sit and pay respect.”
The organization is not asking for additional funds, Pemberton said, noting they will have $95,000 left at the end of the year, $50,000 of which they would like to use for the project.
Nothing else will be replaced, the flagpole will remain as is and so will the plaques for the flagpole, she said.
A time capsule from 1957 with a letter in it was discovered when the plaque was moved. Pemberton said they hope to make a copy of it and place it beneath the new one.
“We’re just combining the two and making it so that it’s a very nice monument for Geauga County,” Riha said.
Pemberton said they hope to have the project complete by September.
Commissioners approved a motion allowing the requested $50,000 be used for the project.
