Aviation proposal calls for new airport

MAT-SU – Whatever floats your plane.

A Mat-Su Borough aviation panel is recommending creating an expanded base for float planes north of Wasilla and building a new airport for wheeled craft. The panel’s proposal calls for the projects to be built either at Mile 121 or Mile 131 of the Parks Highway to serve expanded tourism above the Trapper Creek area.

Planners spent 17 months studying the issue and talking to pilots, airstrip owners and members of the non-flying public in an area Borough officials say has the largest concentration of public and private airports in the country. The study’s aim is to “determine how best to encourage growth in aviation and promote aviation safety and compatible development,” according to the panel’s study. Other findings include:

• The Borough needs an aviation advisory board.

• All existing and new airports, heliports, helipads and float plane bases would have to register with the Federal Aviation Administration for airspace determinations to help minimize conflicts with other existing airports. The registry would also help map aviation facilities for land use planners and the public.

• Airports should be mapped. Many small airstrips do not appear on maps. Once the maps are created, they must be available so people can consult them.

• Minimum safety standards should be in place for new airports.

The next step for the future of Borough aviation is to gather residents, officials and experts together again to discuss the findings.

Aviation professionals plan to attend at least one of two meetings on the proposed Borough regional airport plan held later this month, whether or not they’ve been active in the process so far.

Gwen White of Willow Air Service said she plans to attend Oct. 18 when recommendations are presented at 6:30 p.m. at Cottonwood Creek Elementary School in Wasilla.

Her float plane charter business is coming off its busiest year since 2001 and White, one of three owners, has not had time to keep up with the process. She said she has made no judgments about whether new float plane facilities would impact her family’s business.

“It depends on how fast it grows and the economy,” she said.

White said there are already many places people can access float planes, including Talkeetna-area charters. “There’s only so much business in the Valley,” she said.

The Borough, Federal Aviation Administration and the state Department of Transportation, which oversees state airports like Willow’s, are “all going to have to come together and work this out,” White said.

The report, released Friday, recommends choosing one of three new sites for expanding float plane bases — Big Lake, Seven-Mile Lake or construction of float plane ponds at either Big Lake or Goose Bay airstrips.

The new airport proposed for Mile 121 or Mile 131 of the Parks Highway is on the radar at Talkeetna Aero Services. Eric and Geri Denkewalter have followed the issue and Eric Denkewalter attended the last meeting held on the issue in Willow.

Denkewalter noted the increase in tourism expected due to development in Denali’s south area, and said air taxi businesses are more mobile than businesses like restaurants and can adapt to shifting locations.

“We’re going to the meetings and seeing what is presented,” Geri Denkewalter said.

The first meeting is 6:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at Cottonwood Creek Elementary School in Wasilla. The second is the same time Oct. 22 at Sunshine Fire Station 11-2 near Talkeetna.

For direct access to the aviation panel’s report, visit www.regionalaviation.info. For directions to meeting sites or other information, call Sworts at 746-7430.

Contact John R. Moses at john.moses@frontiersman.com or call 352-2270.

Borough aviation fast Facts

• There are more public and private airports in the Mat-Su Borough than anywhere else in the nation.

• There are 10 airports, more than 200 private airstrips and more than 1,000 aircraft here.

• With that many planes, pilots and support businesses, the aviation industry is a major economic driver of the local economy.

• The Borough doubled in population over the past 20 years and is expected to do so again over the next 20 years.

Source: Mat-Su Borough.