Nearly $270,000 in state, federal and city money will be used to further develop Soldotna’s airport master plan project.
The Soldotna City Council on Wednesday voted to use a $250,000 Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, grant in conjunction with matching $8300 grants from the city and State of Alaska to initiate phase two of the project.
The second phase will include an aeronautical survey and geographic information and modeling data.
Lee Frey, project manager for the city, said the city would be gathering land surveys and aerial surveys of the airport and adjoining land to build a 3D contoured map of the area. The data will in part be used to look at clearances for takeoffs and landings, he said. The city will upload the data into a geographic information system through an FAA database.
Currently, 163 aircraft are based out of the Soldotna airport, according to an aviation activity forecast report prepared for the city by Wince-Corthell-Bryson Aries Consultants LTD. By 2035, the company predicts that airport use will continue to expand and 190 aircraft will be based out of the airport.
Prior to the development of the 2014 airport master plan, Soldotna had not completed a master plan since 2004.
The city will use its newest master plan to devise a list of improvements for the airport.
The Soldotna council also amended its rules and procedures to codify a regular practice of postponing motions beyond its next regular meeting — a provision that is not currently established in municipal code and is in violation of Robert’s Rules of Order which the council follows.
The council will hold public hearings on a resolution to award $99,783 to PDC Inc., Engineers for a streets inventory and management plan and $213,334 to Alaska Public Entity Insurance for property, liability and worker’s compensation insurance during its next regularly scheduled meeting on July 8 at 6 p.m.
Reach Rashah McChesney at rashah.mcchesney@peninsulaclarion.com or follow her on Twitter @litmuslens
