Expansion of the Cook County Airport may be in jeopardy after the Minnesota Department of Transportation took it off a list of about 30 airport projects it had recommended for funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. John Barton of the Airport Commission is appealing to State Senator Tom Bakk and State Representative David Dill for help in keeping this project alive.
The airport runway extension has hit a snag. But the Cook County Airport Commission and County Commissioner Jim Johnson are not giving up in their quest to bring an improvement that could have very positive ramifications for Cook County.
The Cook County airport near Devil’s Track Lake has been slated for a runway expansion for several years, a $20,000,000 project that would be 95 percent paid for by funds directly from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and from the FAA through the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).
At the July 12, 2011 county board meeting, however, Commissioner Jim Johnson reported that MnDOT, which decides who gets funding, unexpectedly took Cook County off a list of about 30 airport projects. “They’ve been encouraging us to do this for two years,” he said. “Now all of a sudden they pull the rug out from under us.”
In a separate interview, Johnson said he thinks being taken off the list could have involved a couple of issues. The Airport Commission submitted a required environmental review to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for analysis, but it did not respond in the time frame allotted. The FAA then told MnDOT that this analysis is necessary.
The airport was also asked to submit a cost benefit analysis, which would reveal that the Cook County airport is not expected to bring in large amounts of traffic. Johnson said that Airport Commissioner John Barton, however, has found wording in FAA regulations that states that a cost benefit analysis is not necessary if the project is going to improve something like public safety. “We always knew that if you’re going to go by ordinary commercial traffic going in and out,” Johnson said, “we’d never get funding.”
Despite the fact that heavy traffic would not be expected, the traffic that would be generated could, indeed, be significant to the county. The U.S. Forest Service wants to be able to land tanker planes for fighting fires, and it needs a longer runway to be able to land them here. A longer runway would add new emergency medical transportation options, allowing people to be taken directly from Cook County to specialty medical facilities beyond Duluth. A longer runway could also bring more vacationers to the area, providing a boon to the local economy.
Johnson thought the state’s financial problems might also have contributed to the Cook County airport falling off the priority list. He said Barton is working on garnering help from State Senator Tom Bakk and State Representative David Dill to keep the project on the list.
“There are three government agencies that are giving us different messages,” Johnson said. “It’ll get back on track, I think. There are just some more hoops we’ll have to jump through.”
Fiber optic ordinance hearing
The public hearing to consider proposed changes to the fiber optic ordinance approved two years ago went off without a hitch. In light of the fact that Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Inc. is now spearheading fiber optic build-out throughout Cook County instead of county government as originally envisioned, the county-board-appointed Fiber Optic Commission proposed revisions to the ordinance to reflect the county’s new role.
Cook County Information Systems Director Danna MacKenzie said she sees the commission’s role now as one of advising the county board and helping the community get the biggest bang out of its fiber optic buck.
Fiber optic committee member Howard Hedstrom indicated he believes the commission’s continuing existence is important. “There is a lot of work to do,” he said. They are writing grants and plan to help educate the community on how it can make use of the technology.
Hedstrom said Arrowhead Electric now has over 1,000 customers signed up to have the necessary infrastructure installed on their properties. They expect much of the county to be up and running with the new system by the end of 2012.
The board passed a motion approving the ordinance amendment.
Poplar River AUAR
The board gave its approval to renew the Poplar River Alternative Urban Area Review (AUAR) for another five years with the addition of two new studies that have been done on sediment in the river. AUARs address specific potential environmental issues, enabling development plans outlined within them to go forward without having to go through with more comprehensive environmental reviews.
The board’s approval marked the beginning of a public comment period and a process for adopting the proposed AUAR.
Schroeder area survey
A public hearing will be held at 10 a.m. August 9 to discuss a survey of Schroeder area properties. The proposed survey will cost an estimated $17 an acre or a minimum of $500 per property.
Highway Department
Work on the Little Devil’s Track River crossing at the upper end of County Road 6 will result in that portion of the road being closed for a couple of weeks, Highway Engineer David Betts told the board.
Because some bids came in lower than expected, the Highway Department has been able to obtain more gravel this summer than it had planned. This will enable workers to do preliminary work on more gravel roads so that calcium chloride can be applied. Those applications started July 11.
New fleet car
The board approved an expenditure of $21,197 for a four-wheel-drive Ford Escape from Sonju in Two Harbors.
Maintenance Director Brian Silence said the car would probably be used by the Assessor’s Office, while their car would go to Planning and Zoning, whose car, a 2002 Escape with 62,000 miles on it, would go to Emergency Management Director Jim Wiinanen.
In an email to the Cook County News-Herald regarding fleet vehicles, Silence said, “We try to get 150,000 miles out of them. But when they start to cost lots in repairs we get rid of them. The car that Jim has now has over 125,000 miles. It needs $2,000 or more in repairs [and] has a broken strut and other front end damage.”
Assessor’s Office personnel need rugged, dependable vehicles because they must travel to remote locations on roads and driveways that are difficult to navigate. In fact, they even have to use canoes to get some places – perhaps a hardship, but more likely a perk.
Leave a Reply