Friday, March 29, 2013

North Central West Virginia (KCKB), Clarksburg, West Virginia: Airport Director to Set April Strategic Planning Session on Issues from Development to $20-Plus Million New Terminal



The April meeting of the Benedum Airport Authority will likely be moved a week back and could include a day-long strategic planning session leading into the regular work session and meeting, Airport Director Rick Rock said.

Rock is hoping to move the meeting from April 17 to April 24 at the North Central West Virginia Airport. Although he doesn’t have a starting time for the planning session, he wants to hold it early and have run until a 2 p.m. work session that is followed by the 3 p.m. business meeting.

“I’m hoping to do this plan to incorporate into our airport’s master plan update,” Rock said. “We’ll do in-depth budget planning and will work toward achieving the master plan’s goals and what we can expect for the future.”

The NCWV Airport’s Master Plan is currently being updated by a team that includes Thrasher Engineering. Rock said a heavy emphasis in the new plan will focus on developing property for new business opportunities and expanding businesses already existing on the airport field.

“This will cover everything. We’ll be talking about bringing in additional air carriers, the challenges of developing property and the funding mechanisms in various phases of work out her to do that development, including removing the mountain on our property,” Rock said. “We’ll also talk about renovations to the terminal building since it appears that building a new one in the immediate future appears to be too costly of a proposition.”

 There are actually two options already spelled out for a new terminal. Rock said one area is closer to the existing location on the terminal side of the airport at $22 million, while another option is off State Route 279’s gated area. The second option is $24 million.

“I think with those costs we have to continue to look at the best ways to expand this terminal and make it better,” Rock said. “We’re going to be in it for a while.”

Rock said it’s going to be key to see business opportunities arise and existing businesses expand as mentioned previously. He said Aurora’s recent expansion, as well as the new facility by EASW is critical. He also mentioned Fairmont State University’s presence and ongoing talk and recruitment of helicopter industry onto the airport grounds.

“I’d like to talk about all of those things. It all works together,” said Rock. “Of course it goes without saying that we’ll talk about the best way to guarantee we can get 10,000 passengers flying out of her annually.”

The Airport Authority – the governing body of the NCWV Airport – meets the third Wednesday of each month. The Authority handles the day-to-day operations of the airport that is ran by the Harrison County and Marion County commissions.

Story and Photos:  http://www.connect-bridgeport.com

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