Business View Magazine | November 2020

196 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2020 But, up here in Maine, that’s when you have to do construction.” “The runway reconstruction project is going to be funded 90 or 100 percent by the FAA,” says Deck, “but it took years for that project to come to fruition because we had obstructions off of one end of the runway that we could not clear because it was on private land. Through a lot of hard work by a lot of people, the town was able to come to an agreement with the owner to put an easement over part of the land to clear the trees – that took five years to happen. The FAA would not fund the runway project until those trees were cleared.” Deck reports that the Airport’s Master Plan was last updated in 2014. “The big thing it calls for is continued development of hangars,” he says. “It’s also looking at the possibility of expanding the Airport. There are a couple of parcels next to the Airport that, at some point, the town could consider purchasing as a means of expanding some of its landside activity. But it’s not much. We run parallel to Chewonki Neck Road, which is the main feeder road into the Airport. There are three parcels between that road and the Airport. If the owners ever want to sell, and the town wants to, it can consider purchasing them. They’re close enough to the Airport, and if the economy improves, it could be advantageous, down the road, for some more hangar development.” But, because the Airport butts up against salt marshes in two directions, there isn’t a lot of land available for economic development, and Tetrev says that it doesn’t actively market itself to potential businesses. However, there is a potential project on the drawing boards that should allow the Airport to reap some financial benefits. “The southside of the Airport, heading toward the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean is not all that developable for aviation purposes because of the terrain,” Deck explains. “But we are in the process of going through the design and permitting phases for a solar farm to go in.”