Jefferson City Council approves $1.3 million grant for airport tower project
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Jefferson City Council took the next steps in a multi-million dollar project to replace an outdated airport control tower on Monday night.
The current tower was initially designed to be temporary. When it was constructed in 1973 the Jefferson City Airport was on an FAA list to receive a new control tower. More than 50 years later the tower is still sitting at the Jefferson City Memorial Airport.
Jefferson City Operations Division Director Britt Smith said the current tower still requires ladders to reach the top. Once inside the tower, you will be greeted by outdated technology, some of which hasn’t been updated since the 1970s.
“An FAA study was done of our control tower, not just ours, but across the country and I've been told that our control tower rated in the top ten worst towers in the country,” Smith said.
During Monday night’s council meeting, city officials unanimously approved a $1.3 million grant agreement with MoDOT and a construction contract with Woolpert, Inc. to build a new airport control tower. The grant is 100%, meaning that the city does not have to match the total. According to Jefferson City Operations Divisions Director Britt Smith, the total project will cost roughly $9.5 million. Roughly 95% percent of the project will be funded by grants with the city only having to cover the final 5% of the cost.
“We’ve been working on it for I think over a decade,” Mayor Ron Fitzwater told ABC 17 News. “We've been very fortunate and Congressman [Blaine] Luetkemeyer has been very supportive, we've kind of got the dollars in increments as the federal government could fund it, always looking toward the goal for this day to when we finally get the final.”
The council previously approved a contract with Prost Builders for the construction of a control tower, as well as three grant agreements for funds related to construction. Monday’s unanimous vote approved one more grant needed to complete the funding and approve a pair of consultant agreements with Woolpert, Inc. for design and construction services related to the new control tower.
Fitzwater said the project will make the airport much safer for pilots. given the new layout of the runway.
“The runways have been kind of realigned, the old tower is both short and it's removed from the runways as they've been expanded. We've now got a cross runway. The property that we purchased it from a local farmer is right on top of the runway. So it'll be much safer for pilots flying in, for people accessing our airport, and it'll be much taller. It’s about double the height,” Fitzwater said.
Smith estimates that the airport's economic impact on the region is more than $20 million.
“The airport is a vital transportation link to our community. You know, many people probably don't think too much about our airport because it's not the place that you go to get on a flight and go to Florida,” Smith said. “We're a general aviation service airport, but we have over 80 base aircraft that operate from our airport. In a year that they'll have flights that either originate from here or come to from here, from every state and actually some other countries as well. It's another front door of our community, a very strong economic engine for the region.”
The city will be holding a groundbreaking ceremony at the airport for the new tower at 11 a.m. Friday.
