Business View Magazine | October 2020

141 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2020 MCKELLAR–S I PES REGIONAL A I RPORT runway. And we are awaiting funding from the FAA for a total rebuild of primary runway 2/20. The basic surface is over 30 years old, and so, we’re trying, in 2023, to completely mill and overlay that runway. Everything else, this year, has been seal-coated and crack-repaired and totally remarked – numbers, bars, lines, stripes – the whole thing.” The Airport is also undergoing a Master Plan update and an Airport Layout Plan. “The district FAA office in Memphis suggested that we do that; it was funded in the fiscal year 2021, and work has begun on that,” says Smith. “The major thing that we’re looking at in the Master Plan is a 1,600-foot runway expansion. Currently it’s 150 feet wide by 6,000 feet long. We look to go 7,600 feet by 150. We had originally planned to do that in the 2023 budget year, but because of everything else that’s going on, we have pushed that back to 2025. “Also in the Master Plan is that hangar development area. We’re going to take some additional taxi lanes in and out of it. We’re also looking at adding one, or two, or even three T-hangar units. Currently we have one, ten-unit T-hangar and it stays full, and there’s a waiting list for that. It was built approximately 11 or 12 years ago. So, as we move forward, we’re looking at identifying some places and adding some additional T-hangars. “We have recently purchased 17 acres off the end of Runway 2, and we have cleared that. We don’t have any current plans for its use, but we had some trees that were encroaching on the approach slope, so we had the opportunity to purchase that property and clear it. We also had some approach issues to Runway 29; we purchased approximately 20 acres. I think, eventually, that 3,500-ft. runway will get another 1,500 feet on it. That runway will have to be built out to the east and so that property that we bought that’s now outside the fence will play a huge factor in being able to add the 1,500 feet BROADBAND ELECTRIC GAS WASTEWATER WATER