The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Better amenities make it a more attractive place to build”
The Gunnison Board of County Commissioners has granted airport manager John DeVore permission to seek a grant from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to extend water and sewer service to an area of the airport known as “hangar row.”
Extending the utilities from the city of Gunnison’s system would cost the airport around $190,000. DeVore asked the commissioners if county staff would look for a grant of $150,000, with the remainder of the cost coming from the airport’s general fund.
DeVore hoped the grant application could be filed with DOLA through the county manager’s office in time for the June or August grant cycles, so the funds could be in place to start construction this fall.
The Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport is a county enterprise fund, receiving no taxpayer support. Each of the hangars generate about $1,200 monthly for the airport, which also collects 10 cents for each gallon of fuel that hangar owners purchase.
DeVore told the commissioners that a new 5,600-square-foot hangar is being planned for hangar row and the owner would like water and sewer service. He said the amenities would also make the area more attractive to potential builders down the road. Electricity is already an optional utility for those owners who want it.
There are currently four private hangars in the row, with plans for another to be built this summer and possibly more in the future. The hangar owners generally sign a 20-year lease from the airport for the property the hangars occupy.
“At the end of the 20-year [lease], the hangars and all improvements revert to the airport,” DeVore says, “so we want to make sure that they are all hooked up for utilities so in the future if someone wants utilities, they can have them. Better amenities make it a more attractive place to build.”
Anyone building a hangar on property leased from the airport, currently at 28 cents a square foot, will be required to bring capped water and sewer pipes into the building so a future occupant could use them.
A sewer extension would also let the airport remove the last of its aging lift stations, which have recently become overwhelmed by the amount of use they are getting.
After a grant application is found, it will go to the county commissioners for approval before going to the county manager’s office for filing.
