Joint Powers gets behind airport project
The Ely Area Joint Powers Board has endorsed both the plan to make over $1.8 million in improvements at the Ely Airport, and a cost-share agreement involving local government entities.Members agreed Wednesday to seek grant funding from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board for a five percent ($90,750) local match. Federal funds will pay for the rest of the project.According to Roger Skraba, Ely’s mayor and the chairman of the Joint Powers Board, IRRRB representatives have indicated that the agency would provide half the money in the form of a grant and the remainder in a low-interest loan, as long as area governments supported the initiative.A letter signed by Joint Powers representatives last week and forwarded to the IRRRB indicates that the local governments would repay roughly $45,000 in loans by the same population formula used to determine Joint Powers budgeting“(The IRRRB) will give us half grant, half loan and each entity will pay a percentage (of the loan),” said Skraba. “The whole structure is to get everybody on board and they’ll do half.”Ely, Winton and Morse Township are voting members of the Joint Powers, and efforts are ongoing to bring Babbitt into the group.Skraba has pitched the project to local government representatives and has lined up support.The Babbitt council is scheduled to decide whether to join the airport project next week, and the Joint Powers plans to reach out to Fall Lake representatives as well.In the works is a plan to both shift and extend the runway at the city-owned facility, as well as the mitigation of wetlands.At the heart of the proposal is an extension of the airport’s 5,600 foot runway to bring it in line with more stringent safety standards.Simply extending the runway another 400 feet isn’t feasible because the Bear Island River sits at the end, so engineers will shift the runway back to provide more room.The extension will also accommodate larger aircraft and allow for higher approach speeds.“The airport would remain the same class it is now,” said Dave Peterson, a member of the city’s airport commission. But a side benefit to the project, supporters say, is that it will open space for potential economic development at the project. The airport has been designated a tax-free JOBZ zone by the Ely City Council.“What we’d gain is the ability to have some level ground to lease on the south side,” said Peterson. “We’ll create an industrial site while we’re extending the runway.”City leaders have touted the project for months, noting the availability of funding for the bulk of project costs through the Federal Aviation Association, which funds 95 percent of the expenses.Plans call for environmental assessment and review, and project completion later this year.
