Airport board exploring new terminal

Members of the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport board of directors were shown a conceptual design for a new terminal during their meeting Tuesday evening at the airport.

But Doug Hoyt, chairman of the airport board, emphasizes that the board is "inching down the road" in its study of a new terminal, and that nothing about the facility — including it coming to fruition — is set in stone. He said the conceptual design presented was simply the result of the board trying to get ahead in the years-long process and have a starting point to work with.

"The study that was done and delivered (Tuesday) night is not a normal part of the airport terminal process," Hoyt said. "I encouraged our board to take that step so that we could have this basic information that says, 'Here's a concept.'

"Airport terminal is big money, so if we said we're going to build a terminal, people are going to start talking about what they want the terminal to be. I wanted to avoid those pitfalls and start the education process of me, of our board, of our community and of our stakeholders. To do that, we made this investment, and now we have a little bit of information. Not firm, but much more firm than we had two months ago."

The conceptual design is for a 26,500 square-foot terminal that would be across runway 06-24 from the current terminal, near Bullfrog Boulevard. That would move the primary airport entrance to being off of Carter Road.

"There were numerous factors when the terminal committee started looking at location," said Tristan Durbin, airport director. "You could build in the place where it is now. However, when you do that, you have to worry about the demolition of the current building and the cost of that, and we would likely have to demolish (some hangars), then we'd have to relocate and build new hangars, additionally.

"And currently, you're going through a residential neighborhood to get to (the airport). This removes that, with it being in the (MidAmerica) Airpark area."

Hoyt said moving the terminal would create better access into the airport.

"(Carter Road) is really more designed for that kind of traffic," he said, "and we're obviously hoping for growth here."

Hoyt said the conceptual design includes the terminal having two gates, the same as the current facility. But in addition to having plenty of space for check-in and baggage screening, among other areas, it is also important it can be expanded.

"As we talked with the engineers who have designed many of these, and we talked through what we felt was realistic ... this initial design is two gates," Hoyt said. "But it has the ability to be added onto on one end, very easily, to add a third gate, or even a fourth gate. The land is there, and the idea will be that we want it to be expandable in the event we do grow and are successful."

The plans presented by the architecture and engineering firm of Goodwyn Mills Cawood, which is based in Atlanta, shows a four-year timeline, with the total cost estimated around $42 million, which includes almost $22 million for the building and the remainder earmarked for apron/taxiway/parking, equipment/furnishing, design fees and contingency costs. That's a significant reduction from the $60 million-plus cost estimate that was included in the airport's master plan.

"That's what I wanted a comparison for," said Hoyt of the cost difference. "That ($60 million-plus estimate) was in COVID times, when construction costs were really high. They were predicting it would stay high, and it hasn't."

In addition to cost estimates, GMC also laid out a timeline for the project, with environmental work and design phase each expected to take about a year, followed by nearly two years of construction. But nothing can progress with the design phase until the environmental study is completed, so the board gave its approval Tuesday for Durbin to seek money through the Federal Aviation Administration to pay for most of the study.

The estimated cost of the environmental study, at the high end, is $250,000. If funded by the FAA, which Hoyt and Durbin are confident will happen, the airport would only be liable for 5% of the cost of the study, which isn't expected to exceed $12,500.

Hoyt said the board was comfortable making that commitment, with it being a relatively small amount of money to keep the project moving forward.

"I'm not about wasting money, and in order to meet a deadline two years down the road; we have to start now," he said. "I have the conviction to make that $12,500 investment now to give us that opportunity two years down the road. It's not committing to $42 million. That's what everybody needs to understand. The airport board has not approved the building of a new terminal. We need to get to that point. The results of the environmental study and the results of the stakeholder input is going to give the airport board what it needs to be able to make a decision about do we take the next step, which is design.

"When we take that step, that's an expensive step. At that point, the airport board would need to vote up or down on moving forward with the terminal. At that point you've committed that you're ready to move forward with it."

Hoyt and Durbin said they're working on a plan to discuss not only what the public would like to see in a new terminal, but also whether local officials are willing to make the financial commitment.

"First and foremost, we want to talk to stakeholders," Hoyt said. "We want to understand what people want and what people are willing to invest in, and a new terminal is an investment for this community. So we believe, as a board, that a commitment of $12,500 is a reasonable commitment to take the next nine to 12 months to begin getting in front of the public, understand what the public is interested in, what the appetites are for local governments. The funding for the next components are all at a cost share, and as the dollars get bigger, the local share gets bigger.

"Now, I can't tell you what the percentage is going to be because different components have different shares. There's also certain pots of money that are available, that if we apply for it and we're successful, the local share is less."

Hoyt said Durbin and the board will use the remainder of the year to formulate a plan for reaching out to elected officials and residents, which will likely include some combination of surveys and public forums.

"We have two-and-a-half months from right now to design something, a planning process, that makes sense," Hoyt said. "My objective would be to outline and craft the design of a communication plan over the next couple of months that we start rolling out at the first of the year. After the first of the year, I think we can engage people.

"My suggestion to Tristan and the board is going to be let's take this time until the first of the year to develop a real strong plan, have some very preliminary conversations with the city and the county so they understand, they get a copy of this presentation — that they understand it's general, its conceptual, that we're trying to secure information from stakeholders and they understand the plan. Then after first of the year, we launch the communication piece, taking the next nine, 10 months to really gather feedback from anybody that wants to give it to us."

Hoyt said he has made it a point up until now to have limited conversations about a new terminal with local officials to maintain transparency in the process.

"For me, it was important, as a member of the board and chair of the board, to one, keep an open mind, and two, not give the appearance a decision has been made, because it truly has not," Hoyt said. "If I were to have had deeper conversations with any elected officials, it could be perceived that, 'Yeah, they have that all worked out, it's a good-old-boy network kind of thing. So I've avoided it.

"I want to learn along with everybody else, and that's what I've been doing, participating in the terminal committee, learning from the engineers who have done this before, visiting other new terminals, talking to folks, and I'm educating myself along the way."

Crucially for Hoyt, having the concept design and moving forward with the environmental study allows time for all stakeholders to have meaningful conversations without being rushed to make decisions.

"We can take our time, we can talk through this, and we can get the feedback we need from local governments that will be the contributing resources," he said. "There is no other choice. We have to have those conversations with the city and the county. Also the the flying public, the general aviation public, that's a big community we need to pay attention to and listen to, and we need to get their input and feedback."