FDOT Provides $67Million for Airport Relocation

[Uncle Timmy]

I saw this on the local news this morning:

From WestBay, Florida Website http://westbayflorida.blogspot.com/

The Airport Authority has issued a press release that says the Florida Department of Transporation (FDOT) has committed an additional $67 million in grants for airport relocation. State funding commitments now total $119 million since the relocation effort began.

Earlier this year, the FAA indicated their support (http://westbayflorida.blogspot.com/2007/02/engineering-team-identifies-savings-faa.html) for the relocation project to Executive Director Randy Curtis. The FAA is currently working on their portion of funding for the project.

The financial plan for the airport calls for funding from federal, state and local sources, including the sale of the existing property. No local taxes are necessary for the project.

The Airport Authority's press release said (in part):

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has committed an additional $67 million in grants for the relocation of the Panama City – Bay County International Airport. State funding commitments to date total more than $119 million since the relocation effort began.

The latest state grant was formally accepted today by the Board of Directors of the Airport Authority at its regular monthly meeting. Funds for the grant come from transportation user fees. There are no local tax dollars in the grant.

Receipt of the grant requires a 50% match from local funds. Local funds will include the assessed valuation of the land donated for the airport, bonds and other non-tax sources. An assessment of the donated land is underway.

Funding from the new grant will be paid in installments beginning this year and extending to 2010 to reimburse spending on the project. An earlier FDOT commitment for a $20 million Strategic Intermodal System grant also will be disbursed in installments from 2007 and 2008 as work moves forward. State funding grants prior to 2007 totaled $32.7 million.

“Florida DOT funding is a critical part of the financial plan for the new regional airport,” said Randy Curtis, airport executive director.

“The financial plan remains on course. We expect soon to receive a commitment for substantial additional Federal Aviation Administration funding, and we are moving forward with our negotiations for the sale of the existing airport site. That sale is part of the local funding commitment. Other local funds will come from bonds which will be repaid by airport revenues,” [said Curtis].

[slandmarks]

Along with the Grant and State Funding Acknowledgement this temporary delay article was in todays Panama City News Herald.


http://newsherald.com/headlines/article.display.php?a=1416


Airport progress delayed
May 23, 2007
By S. Brady Calhoun

PANAMA CITY

Airport officials offered a handful of reasons Tuesday for why construction on the relocation to West Bay will not begin in the coming weeks. The search for the ivory-billed woodpecker, voluminous questions from bidders on the project and the yet-to-be-received final environmental permit from the Army Corps of Engineers are the main culprits.

While no official groundbreaking date had been set, Airport Authority members indicated recently that dirt would be moved in June. A time line on the airport's Web site, http://pcairport.pbsjis.com, shows January 2007 as the time "earthwork construction" would begin.

Randy Curtis, executive director of the airport, said Tuesday that construction still should be finished by November or December of 2009.

John Zebroski, project director for the new airport, said during Tuesday's Airport Authority meeting that six companies are vying for the job to clear the land, create access and perimeter roads, and construct the final grading and paving of the new airport's runway.

Final bids were due May 10, but Zebroski said the companies have had hundreds of questions about project specifics, forcing airport officials to postpone the due date for bids until early June. In February, Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill said construction would begin in early June.

Companies that were deemed eligible to bid on the $120 million portion of the relocation project are A-B Joint Venture, Archer Western Contractors, Hinkle Contracting Corp., Odebrecht Construction Inc., Phoenix Construction Services and C.W. Roberts Contracting Inc.

Once the bids are taken, airport officials will need about 45 days to respond to the bidders, Curtis said.

The delay comes after the Airport Authority had to wait several months while officials with the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies investigated whether the ivorybilled woodpeckers would be impacted by the new airport, Curtis said.

The woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, could be living along the Choctawhatchee River west of Bay County, some scientists now say. It was determined, however, that the airport would have no impact on the bird, Curtis said.

"That did take some time to iron out," said Bill Cramer, vice chairman of the Airport Authority.

The Airport Authority still is waiting on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue the final environmental permit, called a 404 permit, for the new construction.

Corps spokeswoman Nancy Regalado said if the corps finds no "major hitches," the permits could be issued in a couple of months. Late last year, Zebroski said the permit could come as early as January.

The corps has to determine what impact the new airport will have on wetlands. If it has an impact, the officials will examine what can be done to avoid or minimize impacts and replace lost wetlands, Regalado said.

"Ninety-nine percent of everything is done," Curtis said. "We're tying up all the loose ends in order to get up to the point of starting construction."

Airport Authority members took time out of their meeting Tuesday to emphasize that none of the funding for the relocation will come from local tax dollars.

"We don't have taxing authority, nor do we want it," Cramer said.

The Airport Authority accepted $67 million in grant money from the Florida Department of Transportation on Tuesday. The grant requires a 50-percent match from local funds. That match will include the assessed value of the 4,000-acre relocation site donated by The St. Joe Co., bonds and "other non-tax sources," the authority said in a news release.

The news release also pointed out that funds for the grant come from transportation user fees and that the Airport Authority has received $119 million in commitments to date from the state since the relocation effort began.

[Smiling JOe]

I have a copy of a section of a recent newspaper from Rome, Italy, featuring a story on the new airport and Panama City Beach.

[SHELLY]

Along with the Grant and State Funding Acknowledgement this temporary delay article was in todays Panama City News Herald.



"Ninety-nine percent of everything is done," Curtis said. "We're tying up all the loose ends in order to get up to the point of starting construction."




http://www.clicktronic.com/archives/mission_accomplished.jpg

[Smiling JOe]

Nice photo, Shelly, but taken out of context. "Mission Accomplished" was not in regards to the war, but to that particular Battle Ships return to the States after the longest mission in History. ;-)

[Chickpea]

Nice photo, Shelly, but taken out of context. "Mission Accomplished" was not in regards to the war, but to that particular Battle Ships return to the States after the longest mission in History. ;-)

Shelley's picture was worth the laugh of the day for me!!! And I needed that today!