Kim Palaferri/Auburn Journal
Pilot Mark McBride polishes his 1960 Piper Comanche in preparation for flying out of the Auburn Airport for an air show elsewhere in the state. McBride said he’s been noticing an uptick in popularity among pilots at the Auburn facility.
AUBURN CA - Pilot and former Auburn City Councilman O.C. Taylor looks
out the window of a crowded, noisy Wings Restaurant on a recent Friday
and sees both the past and a hopeful future for the Auburn Airport.
The Auburn Airport and adjoining 80-acre industrial park are seen by
both city of Auburn and Placer County officials as job, growth and
tax-base generators.
When Taylor, a lifelong Auburn resident, looks out onto the runway as
he awaits his lunch, he does so with the eyes of someone who can
remember as a high schooler taking off in an airplane during the 1940s
from a dirt runway.
Today, the dirt runway is a distant memory. The airport handles
hundreds of planes weekly on a paved and recently upgraded runway,
surrounded by gleaming new hangar buildings and adjacent to an 80-acre
industrial park.
Taylor said that he’s watched the airport and surrounding area
develop over the past 60 or more years, and while he regrets more work
hasn’t been done to allow more industrial space on the east side of the
airport to provide even more room to grow, the future looks good.
“But they’re doing a pretty good job,” Taylor said. “And the
financial contribution to the city (from tax revenues) is quite high –
about $2 million a year.”
Dave Snyder, Placer County Office of Economic Development director,
said the airport fits neatly into the county Economic Development
Board’s planning roadmap.
“We are bullish on the Auburn airport,” Snyder said. “If you look at
the industry targets in the road, the industrial park already hits
several areas, including emerging industries, technology, research and
development firms, and advanced manufacturing.”
Snyder said a good example of growth at the airport has been Miltenyi Biotech.
“They’ve taken a piece of the Coherent complex and tripled their
space,” he said. “Someday they may start manufacturing there too.”
The Auburn Airport sits on a 285-acre parcel surrounded by unincorporated Placer County land in North Auburn.
At 1,500 feet, the runway is above the fog most of the year and a
destination for amateur pilots as well as business people flying in and
out.
Mark McBride was readying his 1960 Piper Comanche for an air show in
Rancho Murieta. As he pumped gas, he observed that the airport has had
slow periods but has been going through a period of extreme popularity.
Snyder said that the popularity for not only the brunch-and-lunch
weekend fly-ins but for business people can’t be under-estimated. Placer
County has two other airports within its boundaries – one in Lincoln
and the other in Tahoe-Truckee that is shared with Nevada County.
“Some counties don’t have an airport at all serving the general
aviation community,” Snyder said. “It’s very important for development
and having an airport is a fairly unique amenity. And it adds a nice
lifestyle component.”
Auburn City Councilwoman Bridget Powers, who currently serves as
chair of the Placer County Economic Development Board, said the airport
and the industrial park will be the focus next Oct 12 of an event called
the Auburn Airport Industry 2012 that is intended to shine the
spotlight on what a good fit it could be for out-of-town businesses
considering relocating.
“We’re going to try to get business owners from the Bay Area and Los Angeles to see the airport and the lifestyle,” Powers said.
Local business owners will tell their success stories at a breakfast
and then Sacramento media personality and financial consultant Kelly
Brothers will report on the local economic picture at a lunch.
Auburn City Manager Bob Richardson said the airport and industrial
park will get a less formal showing July 7 when the Thunder in the Sky
air show returns.
Richardson said the airport has had several recent successes,
including the development of a burgeoning film industry, with the
presence of the largest green screen outside of Hollywood that attracts
production companies on a regular basis.
The airport has also recently completed construction on three rows of hangars and all have been sold, he said.
“There has been additional developer interest to continue development of the hangar area,” Richardson said.
Richardson said that recent efforts have laid a foundation for the future at the airport that looks bright and is continuing to be shaped by a supportive community.
Story and photo: http://auburnjournal.com
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