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Grove Field improvements move ahead

By Cami Joner
Published: December 8, 2009, 12:00am

New port commissioners will help make final decision

Port of Camas-Washougal commissioners voted 2-1 Monday to move forward with plans to improve the Grove Field airstrip in Camas.

However, the final call on the project will likely be made by a new board that includes two newly elected replacements.

Monday’s approval will allow the port to seek $10 million in Federal Aviation Administration funding to improve safety standards at the airstrip, owned by the Port of Camas-Washougal. Pilots say the upgrades are necessary to the airport, west of Northeast 267th Avenue between Ninth Street and Hathaway Road. Its neighbors object to plans that appear to enlarge the airport. The project could begin in 2010.

The improvements, outlined in a four-year study, call for widening the 2,700-foot runway from a 40-foot width to a 60-foot width and extending it by 300 feet. The project would also realign the east end of the east-west runway to the south to draw its flight path away from the 57-unit Oak Meadows Mobile Home Park.

It would reconstruct a portion of Delp Road into a tunnel where the new runway would cross.

Port Commissioner Bill Ward voted against seeking the funding, saying he would first like to see capital improvement and business plans for the project.

“I don’t think we have enough information to be making a decision right now,” said Ward, who will hold his office through 2011.

“He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about,” said Commission President Jim Carroll, pointing out that he has attended more than 50 meetings on Grove Field. Carroll called the proposal an investment that would likely grow revenue for the port.

Carroll said Grove Field generated $393,000 in revenue for a net profit of $122,000 last year.

“The airport does pay for itself,” he said.

And the port stands to save money if the airport is safer, Commissioner Alan Hargrave said.

“To me, it’s all about safety and the port has a liability issue” from the existing runway’s proximity to the mobile home park, Hargrave said.

But Carroll and Hargrave each lost their seats in the Nov. 3 election. It leaves them with only one port meeting before their replacements, Mark Lampton and Bill Macrae-Smith, take office in January.

“Making a decision now is jumping the gun,” Ward said.

The commissioners’ vote does not obligate the port to improve the airport until the FAA issues its capital improvement plan, said Jack Hardy, the port’s communications manager.

“This is the next step to let them (the FAA) know we’re interested,” he said.

The port won’t be committed to the FAA funding until it signs an agreement, a task for the new board of commissioners.

“Obviously, this is a decision that the next commission will make,” Hardy said.

The port owns 105 acres that include the airport and its 79 hangars, all of which are leased.

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