Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners voted to open bids to grow hay within the fence line of the Warsaw Municipal Airport at their meeting Tuesday.
Airport Manager Nick King had discussed possibly leasing out airport land with Simon Davies at CHA Engineering, the Federal Aviation Administration and Indiana Department of Transportation, and received approval from all of them.
Davies, who King described as an expert on airport wildlife hazards, was mildly concerned about the potential for more wildlife to congregate in the wheat fields. King stated they would have language in the lease stating the city could end the lease early if there were wildlife issues.
King also said he did not believe the wildlife would become an issue. Leasing out land within the fence line of the airport will bring in an additional income for the airport. It will also greatly reduce mowing costs.
Board member Steven Smilay had issues with the draft of the lease King provided the board. He will work with King to write a new draft.
The board hopes to have bids in hand to discuss at their June meeting.
Airport Overlay District
HWC Engineering Community Development Studio Lead Bryan Stumpf and HWC Engineering Business Development Manager Allie Daugherty were present to discuss the Airport Overlay District.
An AOD is a set of regulations and restrictions regarding the height of structures designed to increase the safety associated with aircraft around an airport.
HWC will be creating an ordinance for the city and county to adopt regarding these structure heights. This ordinance will need to be approved by the Warsaw Plan Commission, Warsaw Common Council, the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission and Kosciusko County Commissioners.
“We are all very excited about this,” said King.
Stumpf said their goal is for the AOD to be approved by August.
Other Business
Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) provided full weight deflectometer testing, and CHA Engineering finalized the categorical exclusion for the addition to the taxiway C work.
After a meeting with INDOT, it was determined that runway 18-36 would be the focus moving forward and taxiway A would be pushed to fiscal year 2026. King and Mary Kerstein, a representative from CHA Engineering, both stated they would prefer to do a full-depth reclamation of the runways rather than a 4-inch mill and overlay. However, the final decision will be based on what the FAA is willing to finance. They hope the FWD testing from INDOT and CATEX from CHA will be enough to convince them to go with the FDR.
Kerstein told the board the grant for the power line project has been closed by the FAA. King shared this project was first discussed by the airport with the FAA in March 1986.
The next Board of Aviation Commissioners meeting will be June 9.
