The City of Vermillion has approved an agreement for the completion of an airport layout plan to be finished in 2016.
The agreement with Helms and Associates of Aberdeen for the completion of the Airport Layout Plan and the General Aviation Mini-Master Plan (ALP) was approved by the city council April 21.
“These documents are very important to the airport, due to the fact that it functions as a land-use plan,” said City Engineer José Domínguez. “Essentially, anything that’s in this plan, that’s what’s allowed to be built at the airport – hangars, buildings, runways, anything.
“For example, we are looking into putting in a crosswind runway. A crosswind runway would not be able to be built at the airport if we don’t have the appropriate easements at the ends for protection zones. Those protection zones … should be in the ALP,” he said.
All related documents would eventually be reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration, Domínguez said. The agreement will be completed at a cost of $94,972.04, Domínguez said.
The city will pay for the project, but the state and federal government will reimburse it at a later time for $90,223.44, or 95 percent of the cost, he said.
“As the project progresses and we issue payments, we will be requesting reimbursement from the state,” Domínguez said. “Usually the state likes to hold off on the last 10 percent of the project, whatever cost that might be, until the final reports are done by the consultant and the state approves them.
“Once those documents are approved by the state, then they issue the last 10 percent,” he said.
The process might take a year, depending on the size of the project, Domínguez added.
http://plaintalk.net/2014/05/agreement-approved-airport-layout-plan/