The engineering firm hired to review the Kalispell City Airport is recommending design and safety upgrades at the current site to meet federal standards.
After more than two years of gathering research and input from the public and the Federal Aviation Administration, Jeff Walla with Stelling Engineers turned in a finalized update of the Kalispell City Airport Master Plan on Tuesday.
The report includes recommendations calling for the removal of two nearby radio towers, the acquisition of more than 114 acres of land and the development of additional runway space and facilities. The estimated cost over time would be roughly $16 million, of which almost $13.5 million could be covered by federal funds.
The city council now must decide whether to follow Stelling’s recommendations. Kalispell city councilors and the mayor will examine Stelling’s report and discuss its findings with Walla and Gary Gates from the FAA at a work session scheduled for April 9. A public hearing will be scheduled after that and a final decision could come in May.
The final report is already under fire from the head of a local group opposing future development at the airport.
“Good job Stelling and Airport Board for taking away what Kalispell is loved for, quiet western living,” Scott Davis with Quiet Skies said in a circulated email. “Shame on you who want to spend 16 million dollars on this when we have (Glacier Park International Airport) just 15 (minutes) down the road. If our Mayor and City Council Members go for this, they are selling out the people of Kalispell for a very small interest group. This is a ‘problematic location’ for a B-2 airport.”
The latest master plan outlines recommended upgrades and developments that could be implemented in phases over the next 20 years. The projects would update the 83-year-old facility to B-II design standards, allowing a wider scope of aircraft to use the site.
Stelling reached its final conclusions after reviewing several alternatives, including opening a new airport north of town, moving operations to Glacier Park International Airport or leaving the facility alone and allowing it to eventually shutter.
“This alternative will provide future development of an airport that fulfills airside safety design standards, best utilizes existing facilities, and best meets the needs of the current and planned airport users as well as the City of Kalispell,” the report said. “Selection of this alternative is consistent with all of the other planning studies completed over the past ten years.”
Two key factors in implementing the latest master plan are successfully acquiring adjacent land and removing the radio towers. The FAA has said it will only provide funding if the safety hazard from the radio towers south of the airport is mitigated.
In order to continue development, the city also needs to purchase 114.35 acres owned by 17 different individuals, the report said.
Other recommended additions at the facility include creating a public-use heliport located on the west side of the airport; adding a paved section of runway designed to handle aircraft weighing up to 12,500 pounds; developing a full-length, parallel taxiway on the west side of the runway; and relocating Red Eagle Aviation to another section of airport. Other sections of runway could be realigned to the south and west as well, the report said.
Criticism of the municipal airport has centered on safety and nuisance issues. Opponents of the facility have expressed a desire to better use the centrally located property for a possible events center, among other uses. Others have said airplanes using the facility are a significant safety risk, an argument that intensified in early February when a plane crashed into a nearby house. No one was seriously injured.
Airport supporters have said accidents are extremely rare and the facility is a valuable local resource, which is an argument Stelling appears to agree with. According to the report, keeping Kalispell’s city airport up and running has positive impacts on local tourism; the facility is located in the busiest aviation corridor in the state of Montana – Kalispell to Hamilton – and upgrades at the new facility will allow larger and more aircraft to travel in and out of town.
“Kalispell City Airport’s current runway length is a deterrent to faster, higher performance aircraft using the airport,” the report said. “If the runway were lengthened, it would be expected that more of the higher performance aircraft would use the airport on a more frequent basis.”
Based on a counting method, the total estimated aircraft operations for the one-year study period were 13,270. A previous estimate of roughly 41,000 was “erroneously high,” according to Stelling.
There are currently 82 aircraft based at the site, seven of which are based at more than one airport over the course of the year, according to the report. Sixty-nine of the aircraft owners reside in Montana, including 35 from Kalispell.
The full report can be found online at www.kalispell.com.