The Barrow County Airport Authority voted to borrow money in order to move ahead with new hangar construction at its June 19 monthly meeting.

The board had agreed at the March meeting to proceed with an engineering design on construction services and an ultimate bid for six 60x60 hangars. Interest rate quotes were acquired from The Peoples Bank, Wachovia and Community Bank & Trust, with The Peoples Bank the lowest at 4.4 percent on a 20-year loan not to exceed $2 million.

Airport Director Glen Boyd said he had met recently with Barrow County staff from permitting and the fire department regarding the Denmark hangar proposal and any subsequent hangar construction on the airport.

"We will be working together to develop a procedure that will include a data sheet of basic requirements for hangar construction," said Boyd. "This will enable us to give a comprehensive checklist to anyone interested in building a hangar, hopefully eliminating some of the frustrations we have experienced with the Denmark project."

Larry and Sheila Denmark are t-hangar tenants who had approached the board with a proposal to construct a hangar for an aviation-related business involving air conditioner maintenance on corporate aircraft and aircraft speed modification as well as starting a fuel farm.

In new business, the board renewed several airport leases including the National Guard and Enterprise Car Rental.

Tighter security measures will be in place after the board voted to change its policy regarding distribution of gate cards. All cards in the system will be deactivated with a 30-day written notice. Tenants will have to bring all cards back in, and get reissued one free card. Each additional card will cost $20. Tenants will also be required to fill out an application and submit a picture ID to be held in file.

Boyd asked the board to consider declaring the house on the ILS property on Highway 8 as surplus to the airport's needs.

"If you declare this property to be surplus," said Boyd, "we will proceed with a bid for the sale of the house, with the stipulation that it be moved from the site."

Boyd said he was developing a RFP (request for proposal) for countertop replacement in all restrooms, the upstairs and downstairs galleys, the flight planning countertop, and a few miscellaneous shelves in those areas.

"All restrooms will be cultured marble with Hi-Max material in the other locations," he said. "We will also be seeking the replacement of laminate on all our vertical cabinet surfaces. The restroom stall dividers will not be replaced at this time. There will be some minor changes, like the addition of two shelves in our shower area and one in the 24 hour restroom. We will also reduce the amount of countertop area in the flight planning area."

He offered the board copies of the RFPs to view before sending them to the vendors.

On the tree issue, Boyd said he was working with a contact in the National Guard toward cutting the trees in the area on their property adjacent to 13-31.

"As mentioned earlier, the GaDOT may participate in this project," he said, "but they will only do so once, so we need to clear every possible obstruction required by the FAA Part 77 criteria. We are working with the County GIS department to help define those trees mentioned in an FAA analysis."

While in executive session the decision was made to ask the county to move ahead with the condemnation of land on Highway 8 which is in the approach area of the ILS (Instrument Landing System).

Originally published Sunday, June 24, 2007