Mason City Municipal Airport holds initial public hearing on terminal construction project

MASON CITY — The Mason City Airport Commission on Monday afternoon conducted one of the initial steps in the process of constructing a new terminal at the Mason City Municipal Airport. The commission held a public hearing to hear any concerns about potential economic, social and environmental impacts of the proposal. No one spoke out at that hearing.

The commission has recommended that a new terminal be constructed with all public spaces on one level west of the existing terminal to meet current building code, Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, and Transportation Security Administration standards for passenger traffic facilities.

Airport manager David Sims says there’s still an opportunity for the public to file written comments.  “The public comment period officially ends on February 10th, that’s the last day we will accept any public comments. After that, the FAA will review the environmental assessment and hopefully, optimistically issue a Finding of No Significant Impact. Once we clear that, we will begin the actual design process for the new building.”

Sims says there’s several more steps in the process before construction begins on the new terminal later this year. “There will be several steps throughout the design process which we’ll seek additional input from the Airport Commission. This will be the first time that we really nail down what the new building will look like. We’ll have several options for the commission to consider in the future, so the Airport Commission will have some more input on this process. The goal right now is by early fall of 2022 to have the design ready for bid and hopefully have dirt moving by the late fall.”

Sims says the majority of the cost of the project will be covered by federal funding. “The FAA is covering the majority of the project, hopefully almost all the project. We have roughly about $11 million in federal funding available to us for this project. We do have the City of Mason City budgeting for a little bit of bonding money just in case we needed to get across the threshold, but we are hoping to be able to pay for this project almost completely with FAA funding.”

The project is required to be completed by May 2024 in order for the federal funding to be used. You can find out more about the project by clicking here