The Ocala City Council at a workshop meeting Tuesday listened to a proposal by Ocala Jet Center to build a general aviation terminal and associated hangars on the east side of Ocala International Airport and provide fuel as well as maintenance and storage for larger airplanes.
The council directed staff to continue working on the proposal and come back with recommendations for lowering the current minimum standards.
Bill Houghton, general manager for Ocala Jet, which is owned by the Stavola family, proposed a two-story terminal building with offices and a reception area on the ground floor and a restaurant and offices on the top floor. Initially, Ocala would need 10 acres of airport land with 20 more acres held in reserve for future development.
“It may bring people to the airport for the ambiance,” Houghton said about the terminal building.
They may come to watch the planes take off and land, he said.
In addition to selling fuel, Houghton also proposed building a maintenance facility to handle Gulfstream 5 and larger aircraft and bring in a larger chain that specializes in corporate jet maintenance. He said Ocala was “prime” for that because it is located near three major airports.
The proposed facilities would be located across from the tower, east of Southwest 67th Avenue.
Airport manager Matthew Grow suggested that, perhaps, the City Council may want to consider lowering the current standards for fixed-base operators to encourage development at the airport. Ocala’s presently approved standards require a fixed-base operator under its lease with the city to provide not only retail fuel but also maintenance, avionics or radio services, aircraft rental and flight training. Those standards have been in effect since 1988, with a few revisions in 2000 and 2006.
The current fixed-base operator, Landmark Aviation, provides those services, many under subleases. Landmark’s 30-year lease with the city expires in about six years.
“Perhaps our current standards are limiting growth and encouraging a duplication of services,” Grow told the council. “Because we are requiring a specific number of support services to sell fuel, we may be limiting ourselves.”
Grow said the airport has changed over time. The runway is longer now, Southwest 67th Avenue has been constructed, the ramp space has been doubled, and the city has eight hangar buildings and 101 individual units. He said the Airport Rescue Firefighting Facility is being used, and Ocala Breeder Sales has expanded. And State Road 40, Southwest 60th Avenue and Southwest 20th Street all have been four-laned, giving good access to the airport. Grow also said the business environment has changed with the introduction of social media, which has led to requests from Europe. Grow added that Ocala’s airport has competition from Dunnellon and Williston’s airports.
He said if someone wants to come in and sell fuel they would have to provide all the services. He said changing the standards might provide more flexibility. He said the city may just want to require besides fuel, perhaps maintenance and one other amenity.
The city issued a request for proposals for aviation and non-aviation projects and three proposals were received. The review committee ranked Landmark first, Dunphy Properties second and Ocala Jet third. Staff then recommended that Landmark and Dunphy combine resources and submit a joint proposal.
Landmark requested an extended lease but Landmark and the city could not reach agreement and negotiations ceased. On Sept. 20, at the staff’s recommendation, the City Council rejected all the bids and directed staff to look for grants.
Ocala Jet has returned now with its current proposal.
“There are 680 aircraft registered in Marion County,” Houghton said Tuesday. He said Ocala only gets a “small percent” of that business. He said he would not want to offer all the services.
“If we have to provide those same items, we are going to be taking business from local people,” Houghton said. “We don’t want to put them out of business. Right now, there’s no need. But there is a need for first-class operation to bring development to the city. That’s what we are here to do.”
Terry Crawford, chairman and 30-year member of the city’s airport board, said most airport standards are similar to Ocala’s. He said Ocala used to pump about one million gallons of fuel a year. Fixed-based operators make most of their money on fuel sales. Now Ocala is pumping about 600,000 gallons. Crawford said the pie is not going to get larger. He said Dunnellon Airport has one of the lowest fuel costs in the state and Williston not far behind and pilots go there to fill up their tanks.
Crawford said Landmark Aviation is a known brand to pilots, which he likes. He said he is not “pro Landmark” and has nothing against Ocala Jet wanting to come in and compete. But he does have concern about lowering the standards.
If they want to do it and meet the same standards, have at it. I am happy for them,” Crawford said about Ocala Jet. “The airport board was very much in favor of maintaining the standards and not lowering the standards for anybody. The maintenance is here because there’s a valid reason for it to be here, just like the radio shop. We felt there was no advantage in lowering the standards.”
Crawford said the Airport Board voted unanimously against lowering the standards.
He said if Ocala Jet did obtain a long-term lease with the city, there would be nothing to stop it from selling the business.
No comments:
Post a Comment