Pictured, from left, are Airport Manager Nick King and Board President Jay Rigdon.

WARSAW — During its meeting Tuesday, Feb. 12, the Board of Aviation Commissioners focused on future projects for Warsaw Municipal Airport through an in-depth discussion on runways, roadways, and rehabilitation.

Airport Manager Nick King presented the engineer’s report on behalf of Ken Ross, NGC Aviation Consultants. King and Ross held a conference call with the Federal Aviation Administration the morning of Feb. 12 regarding the airport’s future plans.

King told the board the FAA requested a reassurance letter from American Electric Power stating that once the power line lowering project at the airport is completed that it will not need redoing even with possible additions to a runway.

“We are trying to regain 900 feet of displaced threshold that we currently have at the airport,” said King. “That is our number one priority right now is to gain that back.”

King said AEP told FAA that they wanted to reserve the need to review cost estimates for the power line project due to steel tariffs currently in place. The tariffs could change the overall cost of the project.

The FAA is still working on the air spacing part of the power line project and is hoping to have that completed and sent to the airport within the next couple of weeks.

King also told the board that the current issues the FAA has with the airport’s layout are the runway ends.

“What they’re hesitating with right now is the intersection between the north-south and east-west runways, and the intersection between the east-west roadway and where the road mitigation project will be taking place,” said King.

While discussing runway plans, King said there is a proposal for part of CR 100E to be tunneled to help extend the airport’s east-west runway.

“This would allow us to recover our entire displaced threshold and would give jets the full 6,001 feet for landing on that runway,” said King.

Other updates for the runways in the airport’s future include extending Runway 9 500 feet to the west and extending Runway 27 1,000 feet to the east.

“There are still lots of things we need to study and consider,” said King. “The next big thing for us is to push the power line project for supplemental funding.”

King recommended that businesses that use the airport send letters to the FAA in support of the power line lowering project.

“We never have in the history of this airport asked for a comparable chunk of money like this for any type of project,” said Board President Jay Rigdon.

To end the presentation, King briefly discussed the airport’s project plans for 2019 through 2024. These include rehabilitation for Runway 1836, tunneling for CR 100E, and rehabilitation for Runways 9 and 27.

The board also discussed an FAA land use audit. King said the airport needs to come up with a plan for the airport’s land that’s used for both aeronautical and non-aeronautical purposes.

King said the airport will begin annual inspections of hangars and will also be sending letters to all tenants at the airport due to this policy.

The board’s next meeting will be at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 12.