The airport's board of commissioners on March 25 signed off on a motion to send letters to landowners with offers of compensation for their property. The Airport Authority needs to acquire land from three private landowners on the west side of the airport, and one located on the east side, which is owned by the city. The additional space is necessary to accommodate an expansion project of the airport’s crosswind runway, which, when completed, can then be used by commercial airplanes. The plan also requires re-routing County Road 5.
But that doesn’t mean those letters will be sent immediately. Appraisals are still being done on the parcels, and they need to be reviewed by a second entity. Once that is complete, the initial offers will be made in the amount of the appraisal, per Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Sending the letters to the landowners is the first step in acquiring the land.
“It is absolutely not final approval on the land acquisition amount. It just gets the ball kicked off on the initial process,” said Ryan Riesinger, executive director of Grand Forks International Airport.
At an airport board meeting in February, commissioners discussed the possibility of using eminent domain to acquire the parcels, but said they hoped not to have to resort to that process.
In other airport board and North Dakota airport news:
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Passenger loads are still low at Grand Forks Airport, which mirrors the national trend. According to Riesinger, more than a million passengers board planes each day in the United States, a 50% drop from pre-pandemic times, and much is the same locally.
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Despite the decreased passenger numbers, the airport continued its trend of being number one in the nation in terms of flight operations like take-offs and landings, which Riesinger attributed to use by UND student pilots. The airport was number one in the nation on March 1, 2, 3 and 8.
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Federal grants, administered by the state, brought five new automated external defibrillators to the airport, for a total of seven, on sight.
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Mead & Hunt, a national engineering and architecture firm, will put together the design to relocate County Road 5, for a fee slightly more than $224,000. That fee will be covered by federal money authorized from recent coronavirus legislation.
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Riesinger told board members the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill signed into law on March 11, contains $8 billion for airports. Airport staff have applied for a grant they estimate could bring $4 million to GFK.
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According to a news release from Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., the FAA has approved a number of grants for North Dakota airports. Funds must be used to sanitize airports, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. In the region, Hillsboro Municipal Airport got $13,000, and Cooperstown Municipal Airport and Pembina Municipal Airport both received $9,000.
March 26, 2021 at 12:34AM
https://www.grandforksherald.com/business/6953205-Grand-Forks-Airport-to-send-compensation-offers-to-landowners-for-runway-expansion-project
Grand Forks Airport to send compensation offers to landowners for runway expansion project - Grand Forks Herald
https://news.google.com/search?q=Send&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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