Holmes County Airport plans new terminal, hangar amid funding talks

Talks on the growth of the Holmes County Airport are heating up as discussions continue to take place on the development of new airport facilities.

The Holmes County Board of Commissioners met with board members from the Holmes County Airport Authority Monday, Oct. 20, to discuss the ongoing work being done to move forward on creating a large new hangar and a new terminal at the Holmes County Airport that would enable the airport to receive more and larger air traffic.

Meeting with the commissioners were Airport Authority board members Roc Baker, Josh Troyer and Grant Mason, along with Robert Miller and Chris Reiser of Tekton Engineering, which is designing the plans for the project.

The meeting was initiated by the commissioners because of growing financial concerns the state is facing with the looming property tax situation in the state, something that could adversely affect the county’s ability to provide for everything the HCAA would like to see put in place for the project.

“Things are getting more challenging in the counties with this (property) tax thing coming up,” said Commissioner Joe Miller. “We’re a little worried about what might happen, and we want to make sure we can this project at $3 million.”

Baker said when the HCAA began investigating what a new hangar and terminal might look like, they started by developing ideas about the ideal situation and worked back from there.

“When we started the project, we had some ideas and said, ‘Let’s dream, so we dreamed big,’" Baker said. "So, we did the dream. That was the dream. Now what can we build? Then we did the limitations on the money, so now we have to squeeze things in. Now it’s a process of squeezing things down to where it’s going to fit (financially).”

He said they have potential future grants, and they want to leave the door open for those grants to help them in the future.

“We don’t want to just build a shoebox and not be able to grow with it,” Baker said.

Robert Miller said at this point his firm is in the schematic phase, and it has deleted the second floor from the terminal plan to slide under the required budget.

“Our creative team is paring back while leaving room for growth,” he said.

That would include a possible addition of a second floor and an elevator for the terminal that would provide for a pilot school and training area.

Robert Miller said Tekton has done its site survey and would be moving forward on exploring septic system details.

On the funding side, Baker said the HCAA has discussed funding through the Ohio Mid-Eastern Government’s Association, noting that while it wouldn’t be an organization that would support the beginning phase of the project, it would consider coming in with financial aid to finish the project.

Another topic of discussion was the airport’s ability to place a carburetor system that would allow incoming pilots to pump their own fuel, something Troyer said would be a game-changer.

Another topic of discussion was the restroom situation. Baker said it would be ideal if both the terminal and hangar had restroom facilities.

Robert Miller said once the budget is set, the next step in the process would be to put a Request for Quote for design services because his company can’t extend beyond the $50,000 limit for design services without doing so.

He said the project would include pre-engineered steel and wouldn’t require any specialty builders to erect either part of the project.

Reiser said the timeline to begin developing the RFQ would be now because with advertising for the project, getting everything approved and negotiations involved, it could be a six-week project.

Joe Miller said assistant county engineer Josh Galbraith would be the person who would design the RFQ work.

Commissioner Dave hall suggested that this group meet periodically throughout the process to remain on task, suggesting they meet one or two times per month.

Joe Miller said any additional aid in funding the project will depend largely on what happens with the property tax issue.

“If this (property) tax thing gets solved and the county is in good shape financially, we may be able to do some more of it,” Joe Miller said of the dream scenario for the HCAA.

The commissioners have said from the beginning of this process that this is a commitment to Holmes County to move forward on what they believe is incredibly important to the county's growth.