(Milford)– It’s been more than 10 years since the airport issue has been debated in Dickinson county. That may be about to change, though.
Representatives of the cities of Milford and Spirit Lake and the Dickinson County Airport Authority met Tuesday with an engineer who’s completing an airport feasibility study. The cities requested McClure Engineering of Fort Dodge conduct the study to remain eligible for federal funding for any future airport project.
Engineer Terry McClure outlined several possible options. They include keeping the current airports in Milford and Spirit Lake as they are; closing one of the airports and improving the other; or build a new one on the west side of West Lake Okoboji. Cost estimates vary from three-point-four million to rennovate one of the existing facilities to four-point-nine million to build a new airport.
McClure stopped short Tuesday of making any official recommendations, but said it wouldn’t be feasible to upgrade the Milford airport due to obstructions and other factors. Upgrading the Spirit Lake airport would result in one house north of the runway being relocated. The runway would be extended from three thousand feet currently to four thousand. That would be long enough for small private jets to land. The runway at a new airport would be that same size. McClure said it’s important not to exceed that due to the proximity of the Spencer airport…which is capable of landing larger planes. McClure said federal funding could be jeopardized if it appears the lakes area is trying to compete with Spencer…because it’s so close.
McClure will finalize his feasibility study over the next month. Another meeting will then be held when a decision will be made on where to go from here and whether to apply for more funding for a more detailed study.
