Newsmakers Sept. 19-Oct. 2: Fort Collins, Loveland eye independent airport commission

Business people welcomed an effort by the city managers from Loveland and Fort Collins to develop the framework for a new commission that would include residents of the cities to help govern the airport.

Development of the commission comes after Allegiant Air, the airport’s sole commercial carrier, departed the airport in October 2012. The company cited too many general-aviation aircraft in the sky as its reason for leaving. The decision to leave came despite higher numbers of passengers boarding airplanes there.

Officials have discussed an airport commission for some time, but only recently have they moved forward with the proposal. The idea to create an airport commission would represent a key change to an intergovernmental agreement between the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland, which jointly operate the facility.

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The commission would replace a steering committee made up of the mayors, city council members and city managers of both cities that handles lesser airport matters. The city councils of Loveland and Fort Collins generally decide on more important matters, such as budgets and leases.

The joint ownership of the airport by the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland can create hardships, especially when it comes to doing business at the airport, according to businesspeople.

“The fundamental problem right now is that the airport’s owned and operated by two separate cities,” said Jim Sampson, founding CEO of Scion UAS LLC, which makes unmanned aircraft and has an office next to the airport. “What that means is it’s quite time-consuming and tedious to try to get anything approved. Even something as simple as a lease for a hangar can take quite a long time.”

UPDATE

The Fort Collins and Loveland City Councils met jointly on Nov. 3, and city staff members have been following up with the necessary changes to the intergovernmental agreement between the cities, Loveland’s city manager Bill Cahill said. He expects a draft agreement for both councils to consider soon.

“The Commission will still have increased powers and authorities beyond what the present steering committee has,” Cahill said. However, “The councils broadened the definition of city representatives on the commission so that it is not limited to mayors and city managers, but instead may be any member of the councils or staff.”

Reporter Doug Storum contributed to this report.