Business View Magazine l November 2022

244 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 11 ude rt e AT A GLANCE RIDGELAND CLAUDE-DEAN AIRPORT WHAT: Regional airport with military roots WHERE: Jasper County, SC WEBSITE: https://www.jaspercountysc.gov/ridgeland-claude-dean-airport U p on some of the highest land in Jasper County, South Carolina, you will find the quaint town of Ridgeland, tracing its history back to the coming of the railroad in 1902. Today you can find it along Interstate 95 or fly into the Ridgeland-Claude Dean Airport. Tracing its history back to 1938 and a 69-acre parcel of land in which a small group of aviation enthusiasts convinced a friendly farmer to let them convert into an airfield, it would not be until World War Two that the county decided to construct an airport. With the help of the State of South Carolina, a paved and lighted 3,000 by 70-foot runway was built in 1960. In 2015, the name was changed to the Ridgeland -Claude Dean Airport in honor of World War II veteran and its long-time airport manager Claude Dean. This brings us to the present when the airport has been through a period of unprecedented growth and continues to modernize as it becomes the Lowcountry’s connection to the entire Eastern Seaboard. A statewide survey estimated that the annual impact of Ridgeland-Claude Dean was $425,600 in 2006 while it had jumped to $8.3 million according to 2018 records. “The original airport had a 2172-foot runway with no taxi lanes,” says Danny Lucas, Director of Development Services for Jasper County, and acting Airport Manager. “Since then, we have been dealing with obstructions and land issues – everything from telephone poles to a school built right next door and a 35-foot drop-off on the other edge. So, there were a number of built-in hazards. In 2014 the county decided to get serious about the airport and after consulting with engineers and looking at other locations, they decided to expand the current airport.” “At the time we had 70 acres, one runway, and 42 privately owned hangars. The county acquired approximately 215 additional acres along with about 50 navigation easements and then constructed