In Meigs' Shadow, Bolingbrook Improves Its GA Facility
Mayor Daley take note: Your neighbors understand the value of a
general aviation airport. The village of Bolingbrook (IL), just 25
NM southwest of Chicago, last week approved plans to upgrade its
newly acquired airport to make it a reliever for the Chicago area.
And much of the credit goes to a far-sighted mayor.
"Even though he's not a pilot, Mayor Roger Claar understood the
importance of Clow International Airport (1C5) to his community,"
said AOPA President Phil Boyer, who met with the mayor June 25. "He
was determined to not let this airport go the way of so many
privately owned airports — into the hands of developers."
In the late 1950s, farmer Boyd Clow fell in love with flying and
built a grass airstrip. Before long, other pilots approached him
about tying down their aircraft, and the airport ultimately
developed into one of the busiest fields in Illinois. Today Clow
International Airport sports a thriving FBO, a busy flight school,
a popular on-field restaurant, and some 150 based aircraft. (See
AOPA Pilot, March 2003.) And the airport is the home of the
Illinois Aviation Museum at Bolingbrook. (It was a museum officer
who told AOPA about the mayor's support for the airport and
museum.)
"Clow Airport has been a model privately owned, public-use
airport," said Boyer, "surviving and thriving even as the suburbs
have grown around it."
Clow sold the airport to another private owner in 1998. In March
of this year, Claar pushed through a $25 million bond issue for the
village to buy and upgrade the airport to make it more attractive
to corporate operators. Improvement plans include widening and
lengthening the runway to 4,000 feet, adding new runway lights, and
building more hangars and a pilot facility.
"Bolingbrook understands that a vital general aviation airport
is key to a community's economic growth," said Boyer. In fact, the
village has aired AOPA's video Local Airports — Access to
America continuously on its cable access channel.
On Friday, Boyer and Claar discussed options to better develop
the airport while maintaining its uniqueness as a small GA facility
in a modern community. Boyer suggested the village look at other
airports in similar circumstances, particularly Illinois'
Schaumburg Regional Airport and Albert Whitted Field in St.
Petersburg, (FL).
Boyer also suggested that the village promote the airport on its
Web site and that the FBOs have brochures available for transient
pilots to show what Bolingbrook has to offer.
"What a startling contrast between Chicago and Bolingbrook,"
said Boyer. "We'll never forget that the Chicago area was hit with
the most dramatic airport closure ever when Mayor Daley ordered the
bulldozers to attack the runway. And we'll always remember that
Mayor Claar and Bolingbrook value highly their general aviation
airport."