SELLERSBURG —
Preparations continue by the Clark County Board of Aviation Commissioners in order to expand Clark Regional Airport’s runway.
Several properties were either donated, or are being purchased, in order to relocate Bean Road, which is at the end of the airport’s existing runway. One property was secured Monday when the Sellersburg Town Council agreed to donate a small portion of land to the airport, valued at $41,000. Another parcel being sought is likely to be donated by Kerry Stemler, the air board revealed at a Tuesday meeting.
Michael Harris, engineer with Jacobi, Toombs and Lanz, Inc. who has been working on the project for the airport, said that the parcel was about half-an-acre, but an appraisal must still be completed on the property.
The appraised value of the property being donated will serve as a portion of the county’s matching funds for the project, which is being paid for by a Federal Aviation Administration grant of $11 million.
Cost for the expansion of the runway to 7,000 feet changed recently with the reauthorization of a $63.6 billion FAA funding bill. The legislation dropped the federal contribution to projects from 95 percent down to 90 percent, effectively raising the county’s match for the runway expansion project from 3.75 percent to 7.5 percent. The remaining 2.5 percent in funding comes from Indiana.
In addition, the air board is seeking to secure a grant to purchase the remaining portion of the Dreyer property, which sits near the end of the runway. Harris said the grant being sought totals $804,156, with $723,740 being the federally funding portion, and is hoping to be secured by late-September.
While the air board is looking to purchase a second portion of the former Dreyer property, it is still waiting on an answer on the first portion of the property purchased.
The land has been the subject of an ongoing lawsuit because of a difference of appraised values for the property. A jury ruled in November 2010 that the Dreyers should be awarded $865,000 in damages. Clark County has appealed the ruling.
Clark County Commissioners Attorney Greg Fifer, who has taken over the appeal, has argued that the exceptions filed by the Dreyers were untimely, while the Dreyers, and their attorney John W. Mead, argued that the commissioners have no jurisdiction to enter the suit.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday, May 2, in Clark County Circuit Court No. 2.
Despite not having officially secured all of the property to complete the runway expansion, Harris said the initial construction is under way and groundbreaking should occur within a week or two.
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