By Sara Strong
Plans for expanding the Luverne Municipal Airport are again ready for take off.
Lengthening the runway at Quentin Aanenson Field has been on the Airport Board's agenda for nine years, with the first airport layout plan approved in September 1993.
Last time around, there wasn't enough public support to get the project approved, but a modified version will be before the City Council and then up for state and federal approval this summer.
The plan is different from previous efforts.
It affects fewer property owners and starts a new runway instead of just adding on to the existing. The end result would be a new runway 25 feet wider and 1,700 feet longer than the present runway.
The Airport Board doesn't consider having the shortest runway in the state a bragging point. In fact, it says the limited capabilities of the airport should mean something to everyone in the area.
Board Chairman Pat Baustian said, "From a community standpoint, a runway expansion can only help; it cannot hurt."
Businesses like First Farmers and Merchants and the Minnesota Veterans Home have written to the board asking for a longer runway because they use large planes that can't land there.
The hospital is limited to helicopter use because of the short runway as well. Other health care facilities often have larger airplanes that can travel faster and longer distances than helicopters.
Board member Dave Paquette said, "ItÕs not just the existing businesses."
Baustian said, "We're looking to what the future could bring and hope we can lure new businesses with the asset."
Need for the bigger runway isn't coming from individual existing users like some might have thought, Baustian said.
"The runway is fine for people stationed there now," Baustian said.
His views on the importance of a good airport and runway came to light during meetings with the Blandin Community Leadership Program.
There, the list of important elements of infrastructure included education, healthcare, and safety among other things. Also on that list was transportation and Baustian thinks the runway is a part of that infrastructure equation.
The Board also said people should understand that only 10 percent of the project's cost would come from the city of Luverne, the rest is federal money from aviation taxes. There isn't an estimate on the cost of the project because itÕs just in the beginning stages.
Willmar and Redwood Falls are two recent runway projects the board pointed to for regional examples of growth. "If we don't spend [the federal money], someone else will," Baustian said.
Turbulence ahead
The land acquisition portion of the project could take almost nine months to complete. Payments to property owners essentially buy the right to use the airspace above their property.
A sticking point in the last attempt to expand the runway was a nearby township road that would have had to close. (The gravel road south of the airport runs east and west.)
Since the last attempt at expansion, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has said the township road should be closed anyway.
MnDOT said the road should be closed because of its proximity to the current runway in a Jan. 17, 2000, letter.
The Board hopes that the state's findings on the road helps it continue with plans.
After land acquisition, the airport must go through re-zoning at the county level, have an environmental assessment and go through final design and construction preparations.
If the project gets through all those steps, the earliest a longer and wider runway could be constructed is November 2004.
Britz house
The city-owned home on the southwest corner of Main Street and Highway 75 is no longer an option for relocation to the airport.
The home, commonly called the Britz house, was originally slated to be moved to the airport for a future manager to live in.
But further checks into the cost of moving and conditioning the home for permanent residence made the project too costly.
The chimney is collapsing and there are other structural concerns in the home. The home might not draw resident managers because of the interior design and space limitations as well.
The city of Luverne turned down bids for purchasing the home in order to move it to the airport. The highest bid at that time was less than $2,000.
The city hasn't yet discussed what it will do with the house, which is now vacant.