Airport sizes up traffic control tower

GREELEY — Operators of the Greeley-Weld County Airport are making plans for a 100-foot air-traffic-control tower, contingent upon finding money for a project that’s likely to cost about $2 million.

“We’ve been wrestling with the reality of an air-traffic-control tower for several years,´ said Michael Reisman, manager of the airport, which has recently completed a $23 million, six-year expansion project.

The need for an air-traffic tower has increased as aviation activity swells at the airport, reaching about 145,000 takeoffs and landings this year. Long-term projections call for 190,000 trips by 2022.

Traffic controllers in a tower would enhance safety at the airport, which has spinoff benefits to the larger airport complex, Reisman said.

“Given the overall size of the runway and the airfield configuration, we’re probably looking at building a tower in the neighborhood of 100 feet tall,” he said.

“The issue is that controllers need to have a clear line of sight to the end of all the runways. Given that fact, and that this airport now has two runways, that’s a pretty long distance to have to see.”

Three years ago, the Greeley-Weld Airport opened a 10,000-foot runway, the longest for a general aviation airport in Northern Colorado. By comparison, the longest runway at the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport is 8,500 feet.

A traffic tower could “also help to market the airport,” Reisman said.

While the Greeley-Weld facility is not angling to attract regular passenger service, the safety levels that come with traffic control would likely make the airport more attractive to other commercial aviation.

That means more potential for industrial development around the airport, which includes 260 acres earmarked for commercial buildings.

“The control tower project is one of those things that might help us put funding together to begin to develop” new territory on the airport grounds, he said.

Reisman refers to the taxiway access and infrastructure — utility lines — required to establish a control tower. Those utilities could then be extended to development sites on the perimeter of the airport.

“Primarily, we’re hoping to hook up new acreage at the northeast corner of the airport,” he said.

“We think the infrastructure is probably the biggest issue out there,” agreed Ron Klaphake, president and CEO of the Greeley/Weld Economic Development Action Partnership.

The trick is funding for the tower, which Reisman estimates would cost about $2 million.

Traditionally, the airport funds a new tower, and the Federal Aviation Administration covers the cost of operations. But new federal legislation makes it possible for FAA funding of a tower if operations are handled on a contract basis.

“We may end up being one of the first to work that through the system,” Reisman said.

An early cost-benefit analysis of the tower seems to support the cause.

A consultant’s report shows the cost of establishing and operating the tower for the first 15 years at $3.63 million, while the benefit to the airport would be $4.9 million.

Reisman hopes the tower project could be under way within two years. The airport recently advertised to seek architectural design and engineering services firms to work on the tower. Statements of qualifications were due back to the Greeley-Weld County Airport Authority by Oct. 23.

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