County seeks resolution to FAA funding flap

SANDPOINT — Bonner County is floating a revised corrective action plan it hopes will restore Federal Aviation Administration funding at Sandpoint Airport.

The FAA put the county on notice two months ago that it was cutting off funding to the airport for up to three years for allowing a residential development perpetual through-the-fence access to the airport and allowing midfield access.

Federal aviation regulators contend that the residential development exposes the county to litigation which could ultimately hinder airport operations and midfield access jeopardizes safety.

The county submitted a corrective action plan late last year, but FAA rejected it because it neglected to address the agency’s access concerns.

Commissioners were set to formally adopt an updated action plan earlier this week, but tabled the matter because they were still awaiting word from FAA whether it would accept it.

“It’s their move,” Commissioner Lewis Rich said on Tuesday.

The new plan proposes the implementation of a county policy to reject any future development near the airport which does not expressly prohibit residential uses and giving FAA final approval on any future through-the-fence access agreements.

The action plan further proposes curtailing or eliminating SilverWing at Sandpoint’s perpetual access, either through diplomacy or litigation. It also seeks to shift SilverWing and Quest Aircraft Company’s midfield access at the ends of the runway.

The city of Sandpoint approved SilverWing’s plan for a fly-in housing development on the west side of the airport in 2007. The FAA maintains that the county should have opposed the upscale housing plan instead of endorsing it.

SilverWing has rejected past attempts to amend its airport access agreement, county officials have told FAA. SilverWing owner John McKeown was not available for comment on Thursday. Messages left with McKeown were not immediately returned.

The standoff between the county and FAA has stoked concerns that it could drive off Quest Aircraft, which manufactures short takeoff and landing aircraft for general aviation, government, cargo and humanitarian uses.

The importance of retaining Quest was underscored on Thursday, when the company’s chief financial officer told members of the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce it is being wooed by out-of-state interests to relocate.

Quest CFO Roger Franklin said the company currently employs 275 workers and plans to add 50 more jobs by the end of the year.

“We are in a production ramp-up mode,” Franklin said.

The company has a payroll of more than $10 million and the average annual wage exceeds $36,000, according to Franklin.

The company has also found some degree of refuge in the gloomy economic climate, which has vanquished other aircraft startups and forced deep cutbacks among established manufacturers with luxury cachet.

Franklin said Quest’s rugged and utilitarian Kodiak aircraft enjoys broad appeal in the marketplace, which has helped create a three-year backlog in orders for the plane.

Bonner County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Karl Dye sidestepped the FAA funding controversy at the chamber luncheon. However, he said Quest’s importance to the local economy cannot be overstated.

“It’s one of things that’s kept our unemployment lower than surrounding counties. Quest is a big part of that,” said Dye.

Meanwhile, elements of the local flying community are looking for other opportunities to drum up funding and protect the airport’s longevity. Some are suggesting the creation of an independent port authority, while others are encouraging the county to obtain federal economic stimulus funding to pay for airport infrastructure improvements.

“I just don’t want to see it awarded to other cities in the state and us miss the boat,” said Sol Pusey, a former Sandpoint Airport Advisory Board member.