The Rogue Valley International - Medford Airport

the general aviation area. “We have a six- acre site that is probably going to be our first phase of development, but there’s no taxiway infrastructure going to that site yet,” he explains. “So, in our five-year plan, we have programmed the design and development of a taxiway to get over to that six-acre site, which is very developable flat land with great airside access; and landside access is already there, so that’s going to be our first mission. And we’re still doing some analysis on whether the county is going to build facilities there, or if we’re going to entertain private developers, or it might be a mixture of both. We’re still a few years out from building those hangars after the taxiway goes in, so we have some time to make the right decision. We’re also looking across the airfield at the other side of our Airport as a huge economic development opportunity, because we have lots of acreage over there, but, once again, there’s not a lot of infrastructure, so that’s going to be Phase Two of our overall general aviation development.” Meanwhile, as is the case with most airports, there are projects already in the works. “I always say the Airport is a construction project that just sort of moves around, because there’s always something going on,” Brienza quips. “Last year, we finished Phase One of our general aviation taxiway rehab project. We paved about 33 percent of our general aviation taxiways in our hangar complex area; this year, we’ll continue with Phase Two of that project, so we’ll pave another 33 percent, or so, of the taxiways in that area. We’ll also be installing another jet bridge, because we’re getting a lot of upgauging of airline equipment here – in other words, airlines are changing out smaller aircraft to larger ones that are providing our community with more seats to purchase.” “And we are continuing with our Master Plan efforts, which just started about three months ago, or so,” Brienza adds. “That’s going to be a big part of next year’s commitment - working with our consultants, developing a 20-year Master