City negotiating airport partnership

The city has taken several steps forward at Mustang Beach Airport in the past month: It's hired a part-time airport manager, Randy Hansen; it's apparently fixed the fuel contamination problem that plagued the refueling pumps; and on Thursday, April 17, the city council told City Manager Michael Kovacs to start negotiating with a company to be the city's private partner in running the airport.

Stephen Alexander, of Texas Aviation Partners, an Austin firm, presented its ideas for running the airport to the city's airport advisory board at the board's March meeting. The board was so impressed it recommended unanimously to the council that Texas Aviation Partners be selected as the city's partner. Kovacs will now start negotiating the deal.

In the meantime, Hansen is spending at least two hours a day at the airport making sure things are running properly.

"Some days it's two hours, some days it's eight," he said. "It all depends on the traffic and what's happening."

Part of that is a daily check of the fuel system to make sure no contaminants have gotten into the tank, a process known as "sumping." It was the failure to check the tank sumps that led the city to have to spend around $15,000 having the tank cleaned and refitted. The person responsible for checking the sumps has been demoted and is on probation with the city.

Another daily chore is what's called a "FOD run." FOD stands for "foreign object damage," and is the term used for anything that could appear on the runway and damage an airplane. Hansen said he makes a FOD run each morning to make sure nothing is on the runway that's not supposed to be there.

Hansen is also clearing out a room used as a storeroom in a building at the airport to use as an office.

He pointed on Saturday morning, April 19, to nearly 30 visiting aircraft tied down on the grass between the taxiway and the runway.

"Most of those are here for Sand- Fest," he said. "I expect more in (at the airport) later on Saturday."

"This is the best thing that could have happened to (Mustang Beach) Airport," he said. "You remember that movie, Field of Dreams? 'If you build it, they will come?' Well, they'll come all right."

"Build it" is exactly what Texas Aviation Partners is proposing. Alexander told the council at its April 21 meeting that the company has a three-phase master plan for the airport. He called the first phase "vital to improving the existing conditions" at Mustang Beach. It's planned for immediate action and includes:

• A paved tie-down area for aircraft
• Additional single-aircraft hangars
• Nested "T" hangars ("T" hangars have a wide area for the aircraft's wings and a much narrower area for the fuselage and tail; to "nest" them, envision a row of capital Ts with each alternate T upside-down and the crossbars overlapping)
• Expanded fuel area with increased capacity and improved facilities
• A terminal building Additional parking for both visitors and airport tenants
• Security gates and fencing
• An airport monument sign (a monument sign is one whose base rests on the ground instead of being elevated).

The next phase, farther in the future, needs access to the adjacent airport tract for aircraft as well as the construction of more facilities, including:

• Taxiway from the runway to the phase 2 area
• Additional paved aircraft tiedown area
• More nested "T" hangars
• Additional visitor and tenant parking
• Security gates and fencing
• Large "box" hangars
• Additional single-aircraft hangars
• Airport-related commercial development (but nothing specific on what that development might be).

The first two phases will exhaust the land the city owns, but Texas Aviation Partners also has plans for additional acreage that belongs to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). City officials have been negotiating with the GLO to allow commercial lease of the property - something the GLO is generally reluctant to do - and Kovacs said he thinks progress is being made.

"Phase three encompasses the same components as Phase two, with the ability to offer improvements on a substantially larger scale," the Texas Aviation Partners proposal said. "If we are able to secure the GLO-controlled tract of land, we will be able to ensure that future development along that particular stretch of (State Hwy.) 361 is commensurate with the other airport improvements."

Alexander told the council his company is ready to start.

"Phases would be dictated by the market and how many people want to buy hangars," he said. "I expect phase 1 to begin as soon as possible, meaning as soon as we can get permits. We believe demand for these is very high (for) terminal, parking lot and other improvements. Phases 2 and 3? As the market would allow."

One objection to the plan was brought by Charlie Hatch, who said he spoke for other Island Moorings residents just across Piper Boulevard from the airport.

"We don't object to airport improvements, but we do object to hangars right across the fence, across the driveway," he said. Hatch cited the presence of aviation fuel near homes as part of the problem.

"Other than that, we're pretty happy with it," Hatch said.

Turner & Associates, headed by architect and Port Aransas resident Jack Rice Turner, is doing the design work for the airport improvements. Turner noted that the drawings shown to the airport board and to the council were conceptual, not working drawings.

Mark Creighton, a pilot, said he attended the board meeting where Alexander made the Texas Aviation Partners presentation.

"No one on the team was reluctant to answer questions, and it seems those questions had been anticipated," he told the council. "I encourage your acceptance."

Councilman Keith Donley, the former airport board chairman, said, "When I came to the council as the airport advisory board chairman, we spoke about things that could be done, and decided it would require a private-public partnership. I attended the airport advisory board meeting and was amazed we could have something this first-class."

Donley called entering a partnership with Texas Aviation Partners "a win-win situation."

"Pilots and visitors will get what they want and need and the city will get some income from it," he said.