New Columbia Regional Airport master plan in preliminary stage as public provides input

With everything nearly finished from a roughly 15-year-old Columbia Regional Airport master plan, it is time for a new one.

The city is working with Burns and McDonnell and its partners, including the Federal Aviation Administration, to update the master plan, a process that will take upward of two years. Representatives with Burns and McDonnell, including Project Manager Tom Dowse, were on hand Thursday in meetings at the airport, Columbia City Hall and online to explain what will be happening over the next couple of years.

Aspects of the master plan include property inventory, aeronautical surveys for any obstruction issues and wildlife impact concerns done by the planning team, Dowse said. Committees have formed to help make decisions and provide feedback, including a planning steering committee made of local community members.

"You have academia, city council, county commissioners and the City of Ashland also is involved. We just want to make sure we get a lot of folks from around the community involved and that they can help steer this project in the right direction for Columbia," Dowse said.

There also is an executive committee of Columbia Public Works Director Shane Creech, Regional Economic Development Inc. President Stacey Button and Airport Manager Mike Parks. The steering committee provides guidance, while the executive committee is the decisionmaker, Dowse said.

Margaret Campbell and Tim Lewis, who have properties adjacent to the airport (roughly 200 acres), attended the meeting to learn more and provide feedback to the Burns and McDonnell planning team.

"I'm just looking for an overview of what is going on because (my fields) are just right across from the black top. Just interested in what the future plans are," Campbell said.

Lewis also wanted answers on the potential of increased traffic and noise, he said, with both noting they have seen more air traffic since Moberly Area Community College started leasing the former airport terminal for its aviation school.

"How will this affect what Amazon is doing, and the Potterfield (Cartwright Business and Technology Center) development," Lewis said, with Campbell mirroring concerns for other nearby businesses and farms.

Master plan objectives

The airport master plan overall is a document aimed at planning for the next 10-20 years. So this includes what issues the airport has, aviation trends, airport capacity now and in the future, other future need identification and identifying project costs and sources, Dowse said.

"We'll create a phased implementation plan so we build it in the right order," he said.

The airport inventory is finished and submitted to the FAA and others for comments, Dowse said. Looking ahead four months are aviation forecasts and other ongoing projects of the property map, aeronautical survey, wildlife assessment and other environmental documentation. The next steering committee meetings are in April and June, with the executive committee meeting May and June. The next public input meeting likely is in August and some time in the next year.

The FAA has to approve the aviation forecasts before the project can move ahead. This is expected in April.

Facility requirements come after the forecasts. Most comments so far have related to parking facilities, Dowse said. Airport runways are generally in good condition, though in the next year or so there probably will be a runway pavement repair project. When the plan reaches its project alternatives phase sometime in the next year, it will explore building facility uses and if they still are needed.

"Once we have all that sorted out and our alternatives selected we'll figure out how we are going to implement and fund all these projects," Dowse said. "After that we'll have our final report and executive summary. That is a high-level overview of the report."

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Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: New Columbia Regional Airport master plan in progress