After a 20-minute discussion, members of the Benedum Airport Authority asked Bridgeport City Manager Kim Haws to begin the process of drawing up a legal agreement for the city to lease property near the Bridgeport Recreation Complex.

 

Members of the Authority – the North Central West Virginia Airport’s governing body – were agreeable with Haws’ proposal to lease airport-owned property that sits across from the entrance to the Rec Complex on State Route 131. Prior to today’s meeting, Haws had met with Authority member Roger Diaz on site to go over the plans. Today, Haws formally presented the proposal.

 

“I think with what we’re proposing there is room for everyone to co-exist here,” Haws told the Authority.

 

What Haws proposed was to realign the entrance of the property in question to match up with the entrance to the Recreation Complex. Once inside, a parking lot would go directly along Route 131. Currently, there are 100 spaces shows. Also included was a 60x120 storage facility and 12 bays to used for storage of city equipment and materials. The extra parking would be used for spillover parking as the Rec Complex continues to see substantial growth in its first two years and participation there is only anticipated to increase, city officials have said.

 

“What I like is that as we hope to grow here with future flight services we can use that parking lot as needed if we have spillover,” said Diaz.

 

While much of the property in question is in the flood plain, Haws said only a small portion of the proposed project – a corner of the parking lot – is in that flood plain. He said it is a 100-year plain.

 

“I think people need to know that you are permitted to build an item such as a parking lot in a flood plain,” said Authority member Mike Romano.

 

Although the city would prefer to purchase the property, the Airport Authority said a lease is what they would allow. Haws said he will have the city’s legal team begin to draw up a 50-year lease. At the request of Romano, it will include language that would allow the airport to re-acquire the propertyif needed.

 

“I’d like the language to include a clause that would allow the city to move out if it becomes necessary, which I don’t think will be the case,” said Romano.

 

Haws said the city would cover the cost of all the items listed in the proposal if the project moves forward. He also said the demolition of several buildings would also be done at the expense of the city. As for how much that will cost, it’s not yet been determined.

 

“We have money set aside for projects such as this,” said Haws. “We just haven’t done a hard breakdown of the costs because we didn’t want to devote resources in that direction until we had the board’s approval.”

 

All involved agreed that if this happens it will eliminate a huge eyesore. The project in question has several failing structures and also is overgrown with weeds and other debris.

 

Romano asked that those involved move as quickly as possible to bring a finalized proposal to the table. Haws said he would like to have something at the next Authority meeting, which is Sept. 17.

 

In other business, NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock said the first of the 2014 football charter flights will be August 29. On that day West Virginia University will fly out of Bridgeport for its season-opening matchup with Alabama in Atlanta.

 

Rock also asked the public to once again consider coming to the airport to eat. The new Parker’s on the Runway opened last week in the spot formerly held by Roberto’s.

 

“The product is good and the new look is really impressive,” said Rock.

 

Perhaps the highest compliment came from Diaz. Serving for more than two decades on the Authority, Diaz has been in place even when the restaurant was successful. However, he said the new operator has something over all the others.

 

“In my 20-plus years, I’ve never seen that restaurant look that clean and that bright,” said Diaz. “You can tell they’ve put time into making this run correctly.”

 

The hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Rock said those hours are seven days a week.

 

Finally, Engineer Chad Biller of the Thrasher Group said the airport’s runway safety area improvement project was recognized at the recent state aviation conference. The project was named the Airport Improvement Project of the Year.

 

The Authority went into executive session to discuss the recent market impact study. The board cited competitive issues for the need to go into the executive session.

 

Editor's Note: Pictured above is City Manager Kim Haws addressing the Authority, while Attorney Dean Ramsey is shown in the foreground. Authority member Roger Diaz makes a point in the middle photo, while the property in question is pictured below.