County buys land for runway safety zone at Cd'A Airport
COEUR d'ALENE - Preparing to be protected.
After several years of hoping to acquire property for a runway protection zone, Kootenai County has taken a step toward that mission by purchasing 58 acres of farmland east of Huetter Road and north of Hayden Avenue adjacent to its Coeur d'Alene Airport.
"There's properties around the airport that the airport should own for safety areas," said Greg Delavan, airport director. "As farmland has turned to houses, the community has grown up around the airport.
"This has got nothing to do with airport or runway expansion at this point. The airport needed to acquire this for a safety area."
The purchase from the Jacquot family of farmers was for $609,000. The Federal Aviation Administration will pay for 90 percent of the purchase, while the county and state will split the remaining 10 percent.
"This acquisition was made possible with (airport) user fee dollars," Delavan said.
Delavan said the county plans to approach an adjacent farmer to see if he'd be interested in leasing the site from the county and farming it.
"It's good for them because they can lease the property at a minimal rate and it's good for us because it takes care of weed control which saves the airport money," Delavan said. "We like farmers for neighbors."
County Commissioner David Stewart said the purchase is about protecting the airport's assets.
"It's a very good investment for Kootenai County and will protect us for generations to come," Stewart said.
Delavan said the recently-approved memorandum of understanding between the county and city of Hayden, which encourages collaboration on land-use issues of common interest, paved the way for the land sale to happen.
"There had been a lot of misinformation that slowed (the purchase) down even though the land was not scheduled for annexation," Delavan said.
Delavan said the airport is considering purchasing an additional site of about the same size for a safety zone.
He said that, if the airport expands in the future, it will be required to go through an approval process.
The current runway is 7,400 feet, while the airport's master plan adopted in 2012 calls for a runway of about 9,100 feet. The plan in 1981 said 9,500 should be the target.
This summer's firefighting efforts were required to be altered as a result of the runway's size. Tankers couldn't take off with full loads of fire retardant because the runway wasn't long enough.
"They were using all of the runway to take off," Delavan said. "If something happens in which they can not get off the runway, we want farmland in that area and not houses. That's what it is all about."