Dec. 28—Since the Lake County government took over the Lake County Executive Airport in 2014, the Willoughby airport hasn't had any new additions until now, observed airport manager Patty Fulop.
"The last buildings went up just around 2000, so it has been awhile since we've had any building additions," she said.
Located at 1969 Lost Nation Road, it's been a year of planning at the airport, Fulop said, noting that it received an award from the Office of Aviation for a $91,000 grant to remove a power pole obstruction in the runway protection zone. The project is complete, but not quite closed out yet as it hasn't had its final inspections.
In addition, the FAA gave the airport $248,000 for the design study of Runway 523 and Taxiway A, which is going to be shifted geometry wise to come directly from the airport's ramp to the runway. Any pavement no longer being used will be removed.
"They are looking to fund those projects in 2023, so as soon as they approve all of the projects and designs we've done, then we will apply for a grant to do the construction on those same projects," Fulop said.
On that same runway, the lighting will be upgraded to all LEDs.
"We'll get a new vault to house all of that electric," Fulop said. "We'll be changing out our beacon to LEDs, so those are a lot of lighting projects that'll take place simultaneously with the pavement rehabs. I expect we'll get the pavement done and then start doing the lighting right behind it."
The designs for additional hangars, an administration building, snow removal equipment storage area and a new driveway for each hangar have yet to be approved by the FAA, Fulop said.
"We will be applying for a grant for the administration building and it will be combined with a terminal building, and snow removal equipment building," she said. "That grant should be applied for in 2023. We did complete one corporate hangar along Lost Nation Road. That is about full now with new aircraft."
The airport is currently in the process of securing a piece of property to make an entrance to the north of the airport for the second hangar project in store.
"It actually would continue what is up there now, which is Kennedy Parkway," Fulop said. "If it continues another 232 feet, it will come to airport property so that we can have an entrance there mostly for the automobile traffic that would be coming to those hangars that we're going to build up there."
The hangar design for the second project was approved by the FAA and they have agreed to, this year, fund a grant to make some additional improvements to the area, which includes tree removal, excavating and putting in hangar streets.
"We have not finalized the funding of those hangars yet," Fulop said. "We have several options we're looking at to see if we can do it publicly or privately. We have such a shortage of hangar space here that we really need to get some of our smaller planes to these hangars so that we have space for large aircraft.
"We are saturated even with the building of the new hangar."
When Fulop started with the airport in 2014, there was only one jet that was based there. Now, there's a dozen.
"The growth has been good for us and we continue to see that growth," she said. "There is a shortage of pilots and mechanics, so our flight school is doing well, our jet charter operations are doing well and we still have the sports park, which has been flourishing."
The airport continues to see repeat business and has hosted various events. This year the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 5 put on a pancake breakfast and with that, they put out youth stations and flew kids at no cost.
"Our Wings and Wheels event, which we have every year, has been a great success," Fulop said. "We brought Perry Schools sixth-graders out for a hands-on experience. They did some drone flying indoors at the sports park. We get funding through the arts grant at the Lake County Visitors Bureau for some of our events and we have sponsors that come out, so without all of those, none of this would be possible.
"I'm passionate about this airport and with our master plan complete, we have a good direction to go in and we have people backing us."
___
(c)2022 The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio)
Visit The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) at www.news-herald.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
