“It looks nice, you don’t realize how bad something looks until you see it redone and then it’s a pretty striking difference,” Fehr said. “I think with the painting on there everyone is going to be very pleased.”
The county wants the airport to be self-sustaining – through the use of fuel sales and land leases – so it took a $2 million federal grant to jump start the project. Fehr said they secured $3.1 million in federal money and the Ohio Department of Transportation and the county each chipped in $172,680.
Fehr said all the final bills haven’t been tallied yet but it appears the project will come in $50,000 to $75,000 under budget because they didn’t have to use as much asphalt as planned.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The county grounded planes during the rehab project but Air Care continued to operate. According to statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration, 142 planes are based at the airport in Hamilton, including five jets and there are on average 152 flights daily and 55,000-plus per year.
Airport Manager Josh Clayton said they gave pilots plenty of warning the runway would be closing and half or more parked their planes at airports in Middletown, Oxford, Warren County and possibly Lunken.
Fehr said the pavement was 26 years old and “there were cracks and it was just going to continue to degrade if we didn’t do something.” He said it should bolster the commissioners’ goal of making the airport a vehicle to spur economic growth.
“We’ve had a few folks renew leases because they can see that the county is putting in a significant investment and we’re going to be here for years,” Fehr said. “I think it had a positive impact.”
The commissioners have long wanted to get more out of the airport, after a few rocky years when they had to bail out the airport to the tune of $40,000 to $50,000, up to as much as $100,000. The shortfall was largely because the former airport manager’s salary and benefits totaled $110,310. The field has been solvent since 2019. Clayton, who was hired in October with a salary of $74,578, said his budget is about even at $400,000 annually.
Fehr says the FAA funding they receive is to help maintain what they already have at the airport not for expansion.
A couple years ago Fehr made a pitch to the commissioners for $1.3 million worth of the county’s nearly $75 million allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds to build a new taxiway and an additional 10 hangars for corporate planes on 19 vacant acres along Bobmeyer Road.
He estimated the hangar project would bring 250 new jobs and about $500,000 in new property taxes, fuel fees and income taxes to the city of Fairfield.
Clayton said new investment in the airport would pay off.
“As we continue to put money into the airport the infrastructure piece, the hangars get built, the more traffic in and out the more jobs, the more local revenue as far as people coming in and out and spending money,” Clayton said. “And then the businesses developing around the airport, it’s crazy.”
The commissioners chose to share their federal windfall with other entities and received about $130 million in requests; the airport project wasn’t chosen.
Commissioner T.C. Roger, who is the board’s liaison for the airport, said new development at the airport must be user-driven but they are working on new initiatives.
“We’re having conversations with CVG and seeing how we can have a coordinated effort with the one in Middletown and the one in Oxford and do something progressive,” he said. “They’ve got a long range plan for the flight plans that operate around their airport and we’re seeing how we can complement that.”
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