J.R. “Jack” Simplot Airport In Burly Faced With Loss Of Federal Funding

For more than 20 years, the city of Burley, ID has worked to find a new location for a municipal airport. But officials from both Cassia and Minidoka counties have thrown up roadblocks for every proposed location for a new facility.

Burley officials recognize that the airport is a critical transportation link, as well as for business interests and emergency medical services. But over the years, the municipal airport renamed as J.R. "Jack" Simplot Airport in 2002 has deteriorated, hemmed in by the Snake River, railroad tracks, and a growing city.

Now, the FAA has threatened to pull federal funding from the airport, and if the city wants to continue to receive federal airport money, it must lengthen the runways or find a new location for the airport. The funding amounts to about $150,000 per year, according to a report from the Times-News newspaper.

The FAA will fund 90 percent of a new airport, with the state pitching in 6-7 percent. Burley city officials say the have a plan to sell the existing airport to the Burley Development Authority for the 3-4 percent local match they would need to move the project forward, but FAA rules say that proceeds from the sale of an airport can only be used to build a new one.

But first a new airport location must be identified, and officials from the two counties served by the airport have not seemed particularly interested in saying "yes" to such a project. They say all of the sites proposed over the past 20 years have been on "prime agricultural ground," and said too many questions remained about the cost of the project.

Steve Engebrecht, lead civil engineer for the FAA Helena Airports District Office, told the Times-News that the community must decide if it wants an airport that meets FAA standards in the first couple of months of 2016. City Administrator Mike Milton told the paper that if cooperation cannot be secured from the surrounding counties, then it will be an easy decision to close the airport, as the city does not have the money to keep it open without federal funding.

Mike Pape, administrator for the Idaho Division of Aeronautics, said closing the airport would be a "tragedy." The airport serves 20,000 people in the area, and is the home to about 35 businesses, including an air ambulance service and several agricultural spray operations. Pape said the airport is directly or indirectly responsible for 56 jobs in the area and has an economic impact of about $3.8 million to to the local eocnomy.

FMI: http://burleyidaho.org/city-of-burley/airport/