The Carbon County Commission met on Wednesday to discuss the master plan for the airport. Stephen Berardo, Senior Aviation Planner with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA,) attended the meeting with a couple of fellow co-workers to present what they have planned so far.
The FAA decides how the master plan is completed and has decided in this instance, it wants the plan to look 20 years into the future. It will continue to review the material as it is being produced. However, the FAA will not formally approve the master plan because the Carbon County Commission will have the final say. The FAA has a few requirements for the master plan, including but not limited to: a technical report, layout plan, property map review and to make sure the project is in compliance with environmental regulations. It will review the materials and make sure that the plan is in compliance. Once the master plan is signed by the FAA, the county will not be able to make any additions to it. The predicted time frame for the project, once it gets started, will be about ten months.
“The plan has to be comprehensive looking forward,” said Berardo.
Mel Leseberg, the senior FAA engineer on the project, was also at the meeting and brought in some documents that Berardo went over with everyone. The documents stated that the airport was generally in excellent condition. A few key factors, such as the local economy are going to be looked at as the project continues to determine what is needed. One of those factors will be the local workforce in the county and the future state of the coal industry.
Berardo and his co-worker’s plan to come to Carbon County at a later date to host a meeting to present more information to the commission and to the public, as the master plan grows and expands. A time for the subsequent meeting has not yet been determined, but the parties involved are all very eager and would like to encourage members of the community to attend and give their opinions.
“We very much want the county to reach out as much as possible,” Bernardo said.