Lawmakers’ Letter Spurs Meeting With FAA?At Warsaw Airport
February 24, 2017 at 10:42 a.m.
By David [email protected]
On Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young and Congressman Jim Banks sent a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. They requested FAA?officials to meet in Warsaw with local stakeholders to discuss improvements to the airport, according to a news release from Donnelly’s office.
“As you may know, Warsaw is home to a number of orthopedic companies that are responsible for more than a third of global orthopedic device sales. These companies rely on the Warsaw Municipal Airport to do business – sending and receiving equipment, products and people around the world, “ the letter states.
“Currently, however, when there is a possibility of precipitation affecting a runway, flights are diverted due to the current runway length. As a result, local industry representatives are interested in improving the Warsaw Municipal Airport in order to continue supporting their business needs.
“Two improvements have been proposed that would allow the airport to function more reliably. The first would lower the high voltage power lines and towers that interfere with landing operations from the east. The second would extend the eastern runway into an area currently traversed by a busy road.”
In a telephone call Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Joe Thallemer said, “We were the ones that initiated it. We’ve been trying to get the FAA to come down from Chicago to see what we’re trying to do here. It’s been frustrating.”
He said Banks, Young and Donnelly contacted the FAA on the city’s behalf.
“We got an immediate response from the Chicago field office that they will come down and meet,” Thallemer said. “I guess we used a little influence to get them to come down. We met with Donnelly’s and Bank’s representatives about two weeks ago and we got them up to speed on what we wanted to do. They relayed the information to the senator and congressman and they agreed.”
In a statement this morning from Banks, he said, “This project is an important upgrade for both the Warsaw airport and the community. We are glad to help facilitate this important discussion and will be working with both the city of Warsaw and the FAA to come to an agreement on the best path forward."
Thallemer said he sent a copy of the letter to Airport Manager Nick King’s office Wednesday morning, but before King got it, Thallemer said he heard back from Donnelly’s office telling him the FAA wanted to meet.
King said Thallemer has been spearheading the meeting with the FAA.
“We’ve been working on this project for years. To lower the power lines, we’ve been working on that for 35 years,” King said.
He said his office continually sees the FAA about once a year, but to have them come to the airport and see what’s going on here – “that’s only happened once in my tenure.”
With the support of the senators and congressman, King said the city hopes that will get the ball rolling on the projects.
If the Warsaw airport can acquire an airport improvement grant from the FAA, King said that will pay for 90 percent of the project costs. The local match would be 10 percent, but the Indiana Department of Transportation may contribute toward that 10 percent, depending on INDOT’s funding from the state legislature.
As for the costs of the projects, King said it’s way too early to determine.
“We’re in the environmental study of the project. Once the study is done, we’ll move to the project cost analysis stage,” he said.
During the environmental study, he said they not only look at how the project affects the nearby plants, animals and waterways, but also at the social and economical impacts and how it would affect the people who use the nearby roads.
“We try to narrow it down to the best options we have, then we look at the costs,” he said.
King said he doesn’t know when the meeting will occur, but will be coordinated once his airport engineer returns from outside of the country.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young and Congressman Jim Banks sent a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. They requested FAA?officials to meet in Warsaw with local stakeholders to discuss improvements to the airport, according to a news release from Donnelly’s office.
“As you may know, Warsaw is home to a number of orthopedic companies that are responsible for more than a third of global orthopedic device sales. These companies rely on the Warsaw Municipal Airport to do business – sending and receiving equipment, products and people around the world, “ the letter states.
“Currently, however, when there is a possibility of precipitation affecting a runway, flights are diverted due to the current runway length. As a result, local industry representatives are interested in improving the Warsaw Municipal Airport in order to continue supporting their business needs.
“Two improvements have been proposed that would allow the airport to function more reliably. The first would lower the high voltage power lines and towers that interfere with landing operations from the east. The second would extend the eastern runway into an area currently traversed by a busy road.”
In a telephone call Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Joe Thallemer said, “We were the ones that initiated it. We’ve been trying to get the FAA to come down from Chicago to see what we’re trying to do here. It’s been frustrating.”
He said Banks, Young and Donnelly contacted the FAA on the city’s behalf.
“We got an immediate response from the Chicago field office that they will come down and meet,” Thallemer said. “I guess we used a little influence to get them to come down. We met with Donnelly’s and Bank’s representatives about two weeks ago and we got them up to speed on what we wanted to do. They relayed the information to the senator and congressman and they agreed.”
In a statement this morning from Banks, he said, “This project is an important upgrade for both the Warsaw airport and the community. We are glad to help facilitate this important discussion and will be working with both the city of Warsaw and the FAA to come to an agreement on the best path forward."
Thallemer said he sent a copy of the letter to Airport Manager Nick King’s office Wednesday morning, but before King got it, Thallemer said he heard back from Donnelly’s office telling him the FAA wanted to meet.
King said Thallemer has been spearheading the meeting with the FAA.
“We’ve been working on this project for years. To lower the power lines, we’ve been working on that for 35 years,” King said.
He said his office continually sees the FAA about once a year, but to have them come to the airport and see what’s going on here – “that’s only happened once in my tenure.”
With the support of the senators and congressman, King said the city hopes that will get the ball rolling on the projects.
If the Warsaw airport can acquire an airport improvement grant from the FAA, King said that will pay for 90 percent of the project costs. The local match would be 10 percent, but the Indiana Department of Transportation may contribute toward that 10 percent, depending on INDOT’s funding from the state legislature.
As for the costs of the projects, King said it’s way too early to determine.
“We’re in the environmental study of the project. Once the study is done, we’ll move to the project cost analysis stage,” he said.
During the environmental study, he said they not only look at how the project affects the nearby plants, animals and waterways, but also at the social and economical impacts and how it would affect the people who use the nearby roads.
“We try to narrow it down to the best options we have, then we look at the costs,” he said.
King said he doesn’t know when the meeting will occur, but will be coordinated once his airport engineer returns from outside of the country.
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