Greenfield council receives in-depth review of airport

Issues of what could improve or move Greenfield’s airport forward into the future were all up for discussion in a Zoom presentation given during the June 27 city council meeting by the engineering firm Bolton and Menk.

Joe Roenfeldt, an engineer the city has worked with for the airport, summarized for the council what is the current state of the airport. He also listed for them various funding mechanisms they can use to continue keeping it well-maintained.

The funding mechanisms start with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Greenfield has $990,000 in all that it can spend from the FAA currently.

Remaining above a certain number of aircraft based at the airport is crucial for the city continuing to receive some portions of FAA funding. The number of aircraft based at the Iowa Aviation Museum helps to boost the number of aircraft that are based at the airport.

Other funds can be used on a case-by-case basis from the FAA for other projects. Some of these are much more competitive on a nationwide scale.

Because of the federal government’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, Greenfield’s airport is in its third year of receiving $110,000 that can be banked up to four times and used for various projects that need completed.

“All these things, if you don’t spend it, it goes to other airports,” Roenfeldt said.

A second major source for funding is the Department of Transportation (DOT). Greenfield hasn’t applied for these funds in awhile, but there are certain stipulations involved, including a 15% share paid for by the city for projects dipping into these funds. These funds can also be quite competitive to receive.

The state legislature this year appropriated $1 million for general aviation. This is different than many other funding mechanisms that are funded from within the aviation world.

A capital improvement plan is submitted by the city each fall. In its most recent plan, the city identified public hangar space, a new pilot lounge and updates to the fuel system at the airport as projects to tackle next.

Officials say it is hard to determine the number of planes that fly in and out of the airport, but it is used regularly by spray pilots and by those who train student pilots. It was noted during the conversation that business use of the airport here is down considerably than in the past, probably because aircraft keeps getting larger.

“Most airports don’t get credit for the smaller aircraft, they get it for the larger business aircraft,” Roenfeldt said. “Your airport, with your runway size, you’re operating with smaller general aviation traffic. They’re flying in and out with visual flight rules and it’s really hard to estimate the total number of those coming in and out of the airport.”

Officials reported revenue sources at the airport are crop rent, fuel sales and two hangars the city has land lease agreements for.

To some degree, improvement projects rely on local funding being available. Roenfeldt acknowledged that hasn’t always been possible due to the fact that there are other projects going on around town unrelated to the airport. A flying club existed at one time at the airport, however it has since ceased. While there are private hangars at the airport, the lack of public hangar space is an issue that comes up repeatedly.

Some airports enter into a 28E agreement, usually between a city and county. A new governing body for an airport is formed under these terms, with taxing authority given. One example of this is Guthrie Center’s airport. There, a 28E agreement was created and towns in the county support the airport financially.

“The airport does support the town, but it supports farmers and [the surrounding area] as well. When you’re supporting your airport you’re supporting the local ag economy in the area. Getting some people to buy into that can be difficult,” Roenfeldt said. “I always talk about how an airport needs a spark or one person who will come out to the airport. That one person is passionate about the airport and very vocal about the airport. Having that one, single user at the airport would change a lot of things going on at the airport.”