Construction on new airport terminal would begin in a few years

The hotel tax increase has passed in Columbia, but city leaders said this doesn’t mean construction on the terminal would begin tomorrow or even next week.

“We want everybody to know that it could be four or five years before you actually see progress in construction or dirt moving for the new terminal,” said city spokesperson Steven Sapp Wednesday.

Sapp cites several reasons for the wait. First, the city has to present its airport layout plan, including the master plan for the new terminal, to the Federal Aviation Administration. If the FAA approves the plan, it will fund about half of the $38 million project.

It could take several months for the FAA to review the plan and make a decision. City leaders have been working behind the scenes for several months to gather support both locally and federally.

“A lot of the city staff is having ongoing conversations with the FAA and they come back with information and share it with us,” said Greg Cecil, president of the Airport Advisory Board. “The legislative delegations and the U.S. Congress and the Senate, they’ve been made aware of what our needs are as well as the legislators in the area.”

Additionally, Sapp said the vote of confidence from Columbia residents factors into the FAA’s final decision.

“That’s what most any federal agency is looking for, is that commitment from local citizenry to invest in their community, to make an investment in part of that,” said Sapp. “They’re willing to make an additional investment but they want to see that investment first.”

Cecil said while they wait, the board will work with the city to try and put plans into motion.

“We’re going to be pushing the city to go after as many grants as they possibly can to get this thing on track, get it moving and get a new terminal built,” said Cecil.

Sapp said the tax will take a few years to accumulate enough money to start using, but the city will chip away.

“As we get funding and as we get it built up, we’ll be able to take small bites so we can amass enough money to do the design work,” said Sapp. “Then we’ll have enough to do the dirt work and site preparation work and so forth.”

Cecil said the passage of the tax meant the Airport Advisory Board could start working on goals and improvements they’d like to see at the airport and make those recommendations to city leaders and the council.

“I think this vote of confidence in our terminal and our air service in Columbia maybe will help us to move forward with some of the things we’d like to have them do.” said Cecil. “We would certainly like to have another airline because I think it would help us be more competitive on pricing plus it would help our customers get to some other destinations.”

City leaders said in Wednesday’s Airport Advisory Board meeting that they are aggressively working to expand the airline service even during the changes at the airport.

Sapp addressed rumors circulating Wednesday that the city will start taking money away from signature series events like the True/False and Roots & Blues festival, saying “that is simply untrue.”

“Only the temporary one percent increase approved by voters on Tuesday will be used as part of the funding source for the new air terminal project,” said city manager Mike Matthes in a press release. “We value and understand the importance of the [Convention and Visitors Bureau’s] mission.”