(Milford)– Do nothing at all, and it will be a matter of time before the existing airports in Milford and Okoboji will be forced to shut down. That’s the gist of an engineering report recently conducted to study the future of those facilities.
The Milford and Spirit Lake city councils met in a joint session Tuesday evening to decide if they want to pursue a second, more detailed study to determine if it would be more feasible to rennovate either one or both of the existing airports; to build a new one at a different site within one to three miles of the lakes; do nothing at all; or to close both airports and rely on the one in Spencer.
The study was conducted by Terry Lutz of McClure Engineering of Fort Dodge. He says it’s crucial the cities continue to the next step of a more detailed study if they are to remain eligible for state and federal funding for a new airport. Neither city council decided Tuesday evening whether or not to proceed to the next step…saying they want another three to four weeks to talk it over individually.
Lutz estimated the cost of building a new airport on a different site within one to three miles of the lakes at 4.9 million dollars. He says federal funding could pay as much as 4.4 million if the cities would be fortunate enough to get it.
