Airport Expansion Plans Prompt Neighborly Concern: Part One

By BILL BELLEN
ONEONTA

Over the last month, the Albert S. Nader Regional Airport has garnered increasing public attention due to ongoing refurbishment and expansion efforts. Though seemingly just recently reentering the public consciousness, the airport has an extensive history dating back nearly 60 years.

As detailed by plaques dedicated by the Greater Oneonta Historical Society within the airport’s main terminal, the runway first opened for service on September 17, 1966. The airport has graduated many pilots, even serving as the site where two astronauts acquired their skills in aviation. 1988 saw the ribbon-cutting of an extension to the runway in order to accommodate more modern jets of the time. In 2016, plans began to come together involving further improvements that members of the Airport Commission—the designated body responsible for representing the airport—deemed necessary.

This is where we find the airport today. Progress involving these initiatives remained relatively stagnant until the arrival of the newest chair and vice chair of the commission, Martijn Kamerbeek and Justin Osterhoudt. Since their arrival roughly two and half years ago, the pair have been working closely together to push on with the agenda that has been in the works since 2016.

“For every project we do here, there’s several steps,” Kamerbeek explained. “We need to do a design…then we need to do an environmental study to make sure that what we’re changing is not impacting the environment. We need to get funding from the [Federal Aviation Administration] and then from the local government from the City of Oneonta, and then we need to execute it. Those projects take years. So you need to keep on it. You need to be in it for the long run. None of these projects are one and done. And a lot of the projects we’re working on now, like the fuel farm, started years ago, and it’s now coming to realization.”

The City of Oneonta, which is both the owner and sponsor of the airport, is typically required to cover five percent of the costs of a given project. If the project meets the specifications for FAA funding, the federal agency will fund 90 percent of the costs, with the New York State Department of Transportation generally putting forth a five percent match with the airport sponsor for the remaining costs.

The commission currently has numerous items on the docket for replacement and improvement over the next few years. By this fall, the automated weather observing system on site will see upgrades and be moved to a more optimal location on the opposite side of the runway. The current fuel farm, which has tanks below ground that pose an environmental risk given their increasing age, will be replaced with an above-ground farm and a full-service terminal adjacent to the main parking lot. According to the Oneonta 2025-29 Capital Improvement Plan, these projects will cost the city’s reserves commitments of $92,500.00 and $134,393.00, respectively, with the rest of the costs for each coming primarily from NYSDOT.

Though these are the only projects currently on the airport docket, many more are on the horizon, as Osterhoudt detailed further:

“The only [project] we have that has been engineered and approved is a parallel taxiway, which is a significant safety improvement to aircraft that are taking off and landing…As the airport stands right now, an aircraft would have to taxi on the runway, which may conflict with landing traffic or landing aircraft. Therefore, adding a parallel taxiway is a significant safety improvement,” Osterhoudt explained.

The design for the parallel taxiway has been approved, though Osterhoudt noted that construction is a “moving timeline.” The total costs for the work needed to construct the parallel taxiway was estimated by Kamerbeek to be roughly $10 million; the city’s 2025-2029 CIP puts that number at $11 million. Due to the project’s nature as a safety improvement, it is likely that the FAA would provide the standard 90 percent coverage for funding, officials said, but that is yet to be set in stone due to the unsure projections of project progress.

“One of the projects by itself may not change a lot, but if you just keep moving forward and making these improvements, they will all add up together and they can transform the type of traffic you get,” Kamerbeek remarked.

Recently, the airport commission brought on a new Fixed Base Operator, Hawkeye Aviation. Owned by Matt Kent of Leatherstocking Timber and Stone, this FBO partnership is intended to provide services to arriving and departing aircraft, such as serviced fueling versus self-serve. The FBO will also be tasked with maintaining the property’s lawn care and snow removal.

Kent, his FBO, and the Airport Commission have been working toward meeting the qualifications for significant new funding through an FAA grant. This process entails the largest workload of any proposal thus far, requiring significant parcels of neighboring properties to be clear-cut to prevent any and all obstructions to the airport’s approaches. This clearing would also aid the commission in meeting further FAA standards for an idealized runway expansion down the line; though that is a project the commission noted is currently nowhere near the drawing board. Due to the necessity for easement negotiations with numerous properties, there is no current projected cost of this endeavor.

“Participation of the community by attending Airport Commission meetings would be great,” Kamerbeek said. “It can help us spread the news. It can help us have people understand what the airport can do for everybody in Oneonta and [its] surroundings, and how it can change the economic picture of Otsego County.”

“Our community outreach is in its infancy, and the commission will be doing more community outreach. We haven’t published a lot of information, and the community is generally unaware of what’s going on at the airport. And we are looking to change that,” Osterhoudt stated.

As it stands, there is undoubtedly much in store for the Albert S. Nader Regional Airport. However, it is the last item on this list of plans that has sparked the recent public attention mentioned earlier in this article. With significant work needed adjacent to airport property, many who live nearby are concerned about the impacts not only on the environment, but their very livelihoods. In part two of this story, we will hear what the neighbors of the airport have to say about these expansion proposals, and concerns over what may come next.