Cd’A Airport may get temporary traffic control tower

COEUR d’ALENE — The Coeur d’Alene Airport could see a temporary air traffic control tower.

“Air traffic levels at the airport are extremely high,” airport director Gaston Patterson told Kootenai County commissioners Tuesday. “The only way to bring a higher level of safety to the airport and to the community is to start to go down the road of putting in a tower at the airport.”

The threshold for the Federal Aviation Administration to consider a tower study is 150 operations per day. The Coeur d’Alene Airport sees 400 to 600 operations a day and more than 750 during the summer peak.

The Coeur d’Alene Airport services everything from bush planes to business jets, though Patterson said the majority of traffic comes from the three flight schools in operation at the airport. About 75% of the airport’s traffic is small, general aviation.

“Many days throughout the summer, we surpass Spokane International and on our busiest days, we see the same level of traffic that even Miami International sees with four runways,” Patterson said.

Patterson said he intends to begin the process with the FAA soon, though he noted it can take eight to 10 years from start to finish. In the meantime, air traffic must be addressed.

“Imagine us being at Appleway and 95, at that intersection, with no control whatsoever,” he said. “No stop lights, no stop signs. That is where (the Coeur d’Alene Airport) is right now.”

In recent years, the Forest Service has provided a seasonal fire tower at the airport for 30 to 60 days during peak fire season.

“It works very well,” Patterson said. “That’s the safest two months that the airport functions for sure.”

The seasonal fire tower sparked the idea for a temporary air traffic control tower that could operate while the Coeur d’Alene Airport works with the FAA on a permanent tower.

Patterson said he’s been in talks with Panel Built, a Georgia-based modular building company that can build a prefabricated tower cap for about $68,000.

The most cost-effective base on which to place the tower cap, Patterson said, appears to be shipping containers. He envisions a structure made of three shipping containers stacked on each other with the tower cap on top, located near the fire station at the airport.

The temporary tower would cost about $250,000 to build.

“We have more than enough fund balance to cover this,” Patterson said.

The cost of three controllers working seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. is roughly $140,000 per month, Patterson said. The Forest Service has reportedly expressed interest in contracting with the county to cover those expenses for at least four months of the year, during peak fire season, decreasing the financial impact on the county.

Patterson said airport fees would be recalculated to account for the remaining expenses.

“To be able to bring that level of safety for that dollar amount is pretty unheard for airports,” Patterson said.

Commissioners directed Patterson to prepare a budget for the project.