Greeley officials kick the tires on 20-year airport vision, expansion

GREELEY — After years of scrapping for every bit of growth, the Greeley-Weld County Airport may be at the right spot, finally at the right time. City leaders have developed a 20-year airport vision to bring much more commerce, people and money to the city’s east side, which if all goes according to plan could add $393 million in value to the community by 2045, dwarfing the $67 million value it brings now.

Greeley Public Works Director Paul Trombino and Paul Anslow, airport development director for Bolton & Menk in Denver, presented an ambitious plan to the Greeley City Council this week that spells out 20 years of growth that would solidify into one of, if not the biggest, developments on Greeley’s east side since Leprino Foods came to town in 2010.

Growth has always been on the table at the airport, but it has never correlated into a major economic engine for Greeley.

“I think it’s been sitting there just kind of percolating and needs to come to fruition,” said Dale Hall, Greeley’s mayor pro-tem and a former member of the Greeley-Weld County Airport Authority when he served on the Board of Weld County Commissioners. “Maybe we need to have someone with good foresight to apply the right levers to make it all happen.”

A key concern on any plan with the airport is funding. Officials believe that the Federal Aviation Administration can be integral in that department, but local funding would be a component. That would likely mean money from both Greeley and Weld County, entities that have historically not funded joint projects, much less played nice in the sandbox. Weld County officials maintain a long-held practice of not going into debt on any projects.

“I’d say the communication between the city of Greeley and the county is there,” said Kevin Ross, a Weld County commissioner who sits on the airport authority board. “I feel like it’s extremely good now to have these dialogs and explore these options. Nothing is off the table as far as I’m concerned.

“This is one of the rare airports that runs in the black,” Ross said. “There is no money from the county or city, and neither entity has invested anything in a couple decades at a minimum.”

The next step is for Trombino to present the plan to the entire Board of Weld County Commissioners.

For the last couple of decades, growth at the airport has been more structural with repaving, new hangars and a new terminal. For passenger traffic, growth has been nonexistent save for the smaller corporate jets and training flights coming in. But, it’s also one of the few airports around that isn’t in debt, has 200 acres of available land for future growth and the all-important 10,000-foot runway that was originally supposed to kick off years of commercial growth.

Greeley officials met with those from the FAA this spring. Trombino told the Greeley City Council that the FAA has been envisioning a larger role in the state for Greeley’s airport for 20 years.

“With the 10,000-feet runway, they envisioned the airport as being one of the major airports in the state,” Trombino said. “We thought that was a really positive interaction as we think about those next steps.”

The immediate plan at the airport should be to connect its two runways, which would allow for an easier flow of air traffic, and accommodate hangar growth.

This new vision of the airport also calls for new uses, as well as increased passenger traffic. Those include industrial centers, manufacturing spaces, agricultural greenhouses and railport and agriport facilities. The configuration of the airport also would change, moving the terminal to the east side of the property.

The plan also calls for requesting that the FAA help fund and build an air traffic control tower, which the airport does not have, and fund upgrading the 10,000-foot runway to be able to handle a maximum capacity of 65,000 pounds. Now, it can only handle about 40,000 pounds.

“We as a group and an airport, if we would focus on the taxiways, that would lead to (FAA) funding the runway, which … would be a 90-10 split,” Trombino said.

Anslow, the former director of the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County, told the council that options for funding come from FAA grants once the airport meets certain thresholds with passenger traffic.

“Now, the airport from the FAA gets $150,000 a year to run the airport. It doesn’t pay for anything,” Anslow said. “When you get enplanements, and you get 10,000 passengers, that entitlement jumps to $1 million annually. That’s why as an airport with a vision, you want to have the assets to grow. That’s the easiest and best way to do it. Especially because you have that runway, it just needs the strength. One of the best ways to grow an airport is to bring in commercial service.”

But Hall recalled that the Northern Colorado Regional Airport for years has struggled to secure jet passenger service. He asked how it could work better in Greeley?

Anslow said that airlines look at what is called “catchment areas” when they decide to bring service to airports. Greeley’s location would draw from eastern Colorado, Wyoming, and all of Northern Colorado with people who are tired of navigating a congested trip to Denver International Airport. Additionally, Greeley’s Weld County Road 49 project gives travelers from Denver an easy and less-congested route into Greeley, where they could fly out with much less hassle.

“That catchment area is right and the 10,000-foot runway will set you apart,” Anslow said.

The airport in Loveland has a shorter runway, which limits the type of jets that can take off, and it’s not configured in a way to make it easy to land, which has made passenger service more difficult on the west side of I-25.

“In the summer out of Loveland, they have to take less gas, passengers, and cargo, so it becomes financially not viable,” Anslow told the council. “In the winter, they can load up, but that’s only five to six months out of the year that they could capitalize on the full capacity of the airport.

“If we were to strengthen the runway (in Greeley), you’re capitalizing on that 12 months a year,” Anslow said.

He added that private jet and smaller passenger service is trending, as people tire of crowded highways and airports, and security screenings and the like.

Trombino added: “We believe … there will be a tendency of avoidance to DIA just because of the growth. We’re positioned outside of DIA, and we have all the blank canvass to paint on, and we have the length. That’s why we feel strongly the airport is set up so well, to such an advantage, we see a pathway for commercial service.”

City Manager Raymond Lee shrugged off the competition with other airports.

“We know we’re going to be the biggest community in Northern Colorado,” Lee said. “We’re the seventh-largest ag producer in the nation. How we move products in and out of this community is going to be essential. We’re also looking at as a community what are we offering residents as a place of destination. The airport is going to be an essential component of that. I’d be willing to compete with anybody in Northern Colorado for that.”