Work continues on Wasilla Airport as City looks for public comments

Work on the Wasilla Airport continues as the city starts to implement phase two of the master airport plan.

The city celebrated the groundbreaking one year ago to commemorate the $5 Million Grant from the Governor and the state to start the runway extension project. The masterplan and several of these projects are part of the city's ongoing efforts to improve and expand the Wasilla Airport, making it a more efficient and safe transportation hub for the community and surrounding areas.

The Wasilla Airport is undergoing several improvements thanks to funding received from multiple grants. At the recent City Council meeting on Monday, the city authorized three actions to help direct grant funding for the expansion of the airport.

The first was to use $206,800 from the Airport State Grant to expand Apron E. The work would also pave two adjacent areas to create five new transient parking areas and a taxiway buffer and safety area.

The second action was to use money from the Runway Extension State Grant to ensure power is running along S. Clapp St., through private property to the southern part of the Wasilla Airport.

The third action approved by council, also funded by the Runway Extension State Grant, was to start the environmental study for the runway extension.

A breakdown of the masterplan has four plans for people to submit their ideas on for the future of the airport. Phase one of the master plan identified the current state of the airport, users, and airplane sizes. Phase two is looking into the future based on user input and the administration's direction.

There are four plans available at the moment. The first plan shows the current state of the airport, and the second plan presents near-term proposals, including tank additions, runway extension, a taxiway, and more space at the end of the runway. The longer-range plans extend the runway from 75 feet to 6000 feet and widen it to 100 feet, develop an aviation avenue with a learning center, user space, and new commercial and general aviation hangar spaces.

The final difference in the plans is the realignment of neighborhood traffic to bypass the heart of the airport and improve efficiency.

Erich Schaal, Wasilla’s Public Works Director, said that the airport would not only be strategic for the city, but could serve the wider community.

“The mayor and the administration have set their goal to make Wasilla a well known and usable airfield for serving the Valley. We are considered strategic for emergency response and we want to make sure that our facilities can aid if there's ever a large disaster. So we're taking steps to be more effective in responding to those,” Schaal said.

“I think the ultimate goal, of course, is that Wasilla and the Valley have so many aviation related businesses and the workforce of mechanics, and we want to make this airport the hub for those people so that they work and live here in the Valley and don't have to travel so far to the valuable things that they do in the aviation field.”

The plan for the airport is moving forward, and is currently in the public comment reception phase to gather feedback on proposed actions.

“We've looked at the previous master plan for over ten years old and said what did we get done and what do we not want to do anymore based on user input and just kind of the direction that the administration wants the airport to go. So we're in the public comment reception phase for the master plan so that the comments will steer what we do.”

According to Schaal, a rubric will be created with the comments and it will be shared with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the environmental review team.

“They'll look for substantive things that may need to be addressed. The FAA will say, ‘Okay, well, we saw this comment. That comment is concerned about X, Y, Z. We definitely want to see you include your plan to mitigate those in your environmental documents,’” said Schaal. “So working with the FAA and their environmental review, it'll be used to offset impacts that we see through those public comments.”

For more information about the master plan or to submit comments on the plan, go to https://akprojectinfo.com/wasillaAMP/. All public comments are requested to be submitted by Sept. 18.

The next Airport Advisory Commission is scheduled to meet on Nov. 21.