Aviation Board Gets Project Update, Hears About Hangar Door
June 10, 2020 at 1:04 a.m.
By David [email protected]
Nathan Leinhart, project manager with CHA, the airport’s engineering firm, told the board that virtual meetings with AEP have been continuing. There is a meeting scheduled for Thursday where we’re anticipating the long-awaited revised pricing from AEP.” He said AEP indicated the revisions have made it all the way through the company’s processes.
While AEP wouldn’t provide a dollar amount, “We did ask if we were in the ballpark of the previous estimate and they said yes,” Leinhart said. Prices have gone up, but the estimate is in the ballpark.
Similarly, Leinhart said CHA continues to have conversations with the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Things are moving forward,” he said.
On the Warsaw Airport runway 1836 extension project, Leinhart said bid documents have been issued with specifications out on the street. There was a virtual pre-bid meeting last week, with six or seven contractors in attendance. Leinhart said they received quite a few questions on things contractors wanted clarified, so CHA is assembling an addendum to answer those questions. He hoped they’d get the addendum out this week.
Initially, the bid opening was planned for June 19, but due to the number of questions, Leinhart said that was pushed back to June 25.
With the project, in conjunction with AEP, a number of grant applications need to be received by the FAA by July 1. The board approved President Jay Rigdon to sign those grant applications.
NGC, the airport’s former engineering firm, submitted its final pay request for work it did on a runway. The board approved the payment subject to NGC handing over some final documentation that CHA requested from it.
After several other items, Airport Manager Nick King brought the issue up of Hangar 121’s door. Zimmer Biomet is currently leasing the hangar.
King said over the last 12 to 24 months, he’s been working with Zimmer Biomet on what to do with the aging door system. The door is getting to the point where it’s unsafe and it’s costing the airport a lot of money to keep the current door on there.
He said he looked at several different styles and types of doors, but his recommendation was a bi-fold door system. The cost would be approximately $500,000, with wiggle room around $50,000, depending on options. King said it was the easiest hangar door to install and not expensive to maintain and install.
If the board does proceed with replacing the door, King said he’d like to address Zimmer Biomet’s lease for the hangar. To help pay for the new hangar door and its installation, he recommended increasing Zimmer Biomet’s monthly lease to $5,000 for five years, with the option to renew for an additional five years. That doesn’t add up to the full cost of door, but the second part of that, he said, would be to get Zimmer Biomet to agree to a minimum fuel uplift of 5,000 gallons a month. That’s roughly four to five fuelings for Zimmer, “not that much,” King said.
To pay for the new door upfront, King said there were different ways that could happen. The airport has enough money to pay for it out of pocket, but that would strain its budgets. King and Mayor Joe Thallemer spoke to financial firm Bakertilly, who suggested the airport borrowing some money from the city’s Northern TIF District or Economic Development Income Tax and then use the Zimmer Biomet lease money to pay back what was borrowed.
King said they’d need confirmation from Zimmer Biomet that the company would be agreeable to all of this before they moved forward on this project.
King said he wouldn’t recommend borrowing more than $250,000 from the city for the project.
Board member Gene Zale asked if anyone else at airport had bifold doors, and King said about 75% are bifold. The door is 120 feet wide by 28 feet tall.
Board Vice President John Yingling asked King how well did he think Zimmer Biomet would be receptive to all of this, and King said he’d be able to answer that after having discussions with them. If they are agreeable to the terms, legal counsel would draft the agreement.
Board member Dan Robinson said there were two parts to this: Whether Zimmer Biomet wants to agree to something like this, and “we have to do something as the doors have exceeded their life span. So the question is, at what level do we try to achieve this?”
The board gave King its consensus to move forward on trying to get an agreement with Zimmer Biomet. King said, “I’ll update the board as more information is available.”
King then reported they found drainage issues at the terminal itself. They have been having plumbing issues, but are working with Core Mechanical to come up with a plan to fix plumbing permanently. At this point, he said he doesn’t know the cost. The main issue is that the building was grandfathered in regarding ADA compliance laws, and the women’s restroom is not ADA compliant, so to make it ADA compliant would take some work. He said he’d also like to add a shower to the bathrooms per pilots’ requests.
In another matter, King said more hangar owners want to have parties, etc., out at the airport.
“I’m supportive of that because it gets the community out there to see what we’re about. However, certain security/safety policies need to be in place first,” he said.
If the board was OK with it, he said he’ll draft a letter for Rigdon to sign to send to tenants to encourage the get-togethers but for them to remember there are certain items they have to tick off first.
Finally, King said the goal is to reopen the terminal Monday with social distancing. If a person can’t social distance, they will be asked to wear a mask.
The next meeting of the Board of Aviation Commissioners is at 5:15 p.m. July 14 in the city hall council chambers.
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Nathan Leinhart, project manager with CHA, the airport’s engineering firm, told the board that virtual meetings with AEP have been continuing. There is a meeting scheduled for Thursday where we’re anticipating the long-awaited revised pricing from AEP.” He said AEP indicated the revisions have made it all the way through the company’s processes.
While AEP wouldn’t provide a dollar amount, “We did ask if we were in the ballpark of the previous estimate and they said yes,” Leinhart said. Prices have gone up, but the estimate is in the ballpark.
Similarly, Leinhart said CHA continues to have conversations with the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Things are moving forward,” he said.
On the Warsaw Airport runway 1836 extension project, Leinhart said bid documents have been issued with specifications out on the street. There was a virtual pre-bid meeting last week, with six or seven contractors in attendance. Leinhart said they received quite a few questions on things contractors wanted clarified, so CHA is assembling an addendum to answer those questions. He hoped they’d get the addendum out this week.
Initially, the bid opening was planned for June 19, but due to the number of questions, Leinhart said that was pushed back to June 25.
With the project, in conjunction with AEP, a number of grant applications need to be received by the FAA by July 1. The board approved President Jay Rigdon to sign those grant applications.
NGC, the airport’s former engineering firm, submitted its final pay request for work it did on a runway. The board approved the payment subject to NGC handing over some final documentation that CHA requested from it.
After several other items, Airport Manager Nick King brought the issue up of Hangar 121’s door. Zimmer Biomet is currently leasing the hangar.
King said over the last 12 to 24 months, he’s been working with Zimmer Biomet on what to do with the aging door system. The door is getting to the point where it’s unsafe and it’s costing the airport a lot of money to keep the current door on there.
He said he looked at several different styles and types of doors, but his recommendation was a bi-fold door system. The cost would be approximately $500,000, with wiggle room around $50,000, depending on options. King said it was the easiest hangar door to install and not expensive to maintain and install.
If the board does proceed with replacing the door, King said he’d like to address Zimmer Biomet’s lease for the hangar. To help pay for the new hangar door and its installation, he recommended increasing Zimmer Biomet’s monthly lease to $5,000 for five years, with the option to renew for an additional five years. That doesn’t add up to the full cost of door, but the second part of that, he said, would be to get Zimmer Biomet to agree to a minimum fuel uplift of 5,000 gallons a month. That’s roughly four to five fuelings for Zimmer, “not that much,” King said.
To pay for the new door upfront, King said there were different ways that could happen. The airport has enough money to pay for it out of pocket, but that would strain its budgets. King and Mayor Joe Thallemer spoke to financial firm Bakertilly, who suggested the airport borrowing some money from the city’s Northern TIF District or Economic Development Income Tax and then use the Zimmer Biomet lease money to pay back what was borrowed.
King said they’d need confirmation from Zimmer Biomet that the company would be agreeable to all of this before they moved forward on this project.
King said he wouldn’t recommend borrowing more than $250,000 from the city for the project.
Board member Gene Zale asked if anyone else at airport had bifold doors, and King said about 75% are bifold. The door is 120 feet wide by 28 feet tall.
Board Vice President John Yingling asked King how well did he think Zimmer Biomet would be receptive to all of this, and King said he’d be able to answer that after having discussions with them. If they are agreeable to the terms, legal counsel would draft the agreement.
Board member Dan Robinson said there were two parts to this: Whether Zimmer Biomet wants to agree to something like this, and “we have to do something as the doors have exceeded their life span. So the question is, at what level do we try to achieve this?”
The board gave King its consensus to move forward on trying to get an agreement with Zimmer Biomet. King said, “I’ll update the board as more information is available.”
King then reported they found drainage issues at the terminal itself. They have been having plumbing issues, but are working with Core Mechanical to come up with a plan to fix plumbing permanently. At this point, he said he doesn’t know the cost. The main issue is that the building was grandfathered in regarding ADA compliance laws, and the women’s restroom is not ADA compliant, so to make it ADA compliant would take some work. He said he’d also like to add a shower to the bathrooms per pilots’ requests.
In another matter, King said more hangar owners want to have parties, etc., out at the airport.
“I’m supportive of that because it gets the community out there to see what we’re about. However, certain security/safety policies need to be in place first,” he said.
If the board was OK with it, he said he’ll draft a letter for Rigdon to sign to send to tenants to encourage the get-togethers but for them to remember there are certain items they have to tick off first.
Finally, King said the goal is to reopen the terminal Monday with social distancing. If a person can’t social distance, they will be asked to wear a mask.
The next meeting of the Board of Aviation Commissioners is at 5:15 p.m. July 14 in the city hall council chambers.
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