Frequently asked questions regarding the regional airport in Maricopa.

Q: What will cause a regional airport in Maricopa to have greater success than established airports in Coolidge and Casa Grande, especially when a passenger would have to travel down SR-347 instead of straight down I-10 to Casa Grande?

Q: What can FAA funds be used for, and who will pay for the regional airport in Maricopa?

Q: Why is Maricopa looking at an industrial park when the Casa Grande Airport Industrial Park is only 50% occupied? In fact, many of the business relocated from other locations in Casa Grande; therefore the tax base has not been significantly increased due to industrial park business.

Q: Who is responsible for the continued maintenance of the airport? I heard that Payson was going to have to repay approximately $13 million because they did not want to make improvements required by the FAA.

Q: How does the City plan to purchase the State Trust Land in order to develop and industrial park?

Q: Will the industrial park be needed to sustain the airport like the Scottsdale Airpark?

Q: What will be done with the land around the airport?

Q: How will a regional airport help the economy in Maricopa?

A: FAA funds can be used to purchase property for an airport, to fund on-airport access, as well as basic utilities needed to operate the airport. FAA funds can also be used to build hangars after all other needs are met. Hangar development costs, however, can typically be recovered in their rent. Items not eligible are off-airport roads and utilities that have the potential and likelihood to serve other properties and industrial parks.

Total development costs for a regional airport in Maricopa are estimated at $72.1 million, of which the FAA supplies $66.8 million and the State of Arizona $3.4 million. The City of Maricopa would have responsibility for approximately $1.9 million. The financial conditions for an airport development will be more fully developed in Phase III of the current airport study.
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A: The feasibility of the regional airport in Maricopa is not being evaluated based upon having an industrial park. Rather, the industrial park is an additional opportunity the City or a private developer may consider. The FAA is very strict regarding its involvement in funding for an industrial park. In addition, airfield access from privately-owned property is considered as “through-the-fence” and generally is not approved. An on-airport industrial park is permitted, although all parcels would need to be owned by the sponsor.

In regards to the Casa Grande Municipal Airport, the adjacent industrial park was developed by the city. The original concept was for the industrial park to be part of the airport with airfield access. A few parcels still have grandfathered airfield access, and the industrial park is not considered airport property. The plan for the industrial park at Casa Grande Municipal Airport has always been to open the park in phases, in order to be sensitive to other industrial development in the city.
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A: Since the federal government’s interest in funding airports is in maintaining a national system of airports for the promotion of interstate commerce and national defense, an airport sponsor is required to agree to a set of assurances upon accepting funding for airport development. This involves agreeing to maintain and operate the airport for 20 years from the date of the last funded project. When the airport’s property is purchased with federal funds, there are also deed restrictions that preclude the sponsor from selling that property without reimbursement at the current value to the federal government.

The Payson project actually involved three interwoven projects that the FAA agreed to fund because they were considered a high priority to meet safety standards and reduce the potential for runway incursions. To accomplish this, the first project was the relocation of a public road. While this relocation also had non-airport related advantages to the Town, the FAA agreed to fund the relocation because it would permit the other two safety projects to be completed. Once the road project was completed, however, the Town informed the FAA that they had decided not to do the other two projects. Because the Town was electing not to follow through on the previously agreed upon projects, they essentially made the road a stand alone project that was not of benefit to the airport or the FAA interests. This would make the road ineligible for funding. Subsequently, the FAA notified the City that it would have to reimburse the FAA for the relocation of the road if they chose not to complete the other previously agreed-upon projects, which the FAA intended upon funding.
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A: The study has allowed room for an industrial park because that has been a desire indicated from the City and its general plan to date. An industrial park is not required, and has not been considered as needed for the feasibility of the airport. Phase III report will look at the viability of the airport without any cash flow from a business park. The options for developing an airport industrial park for the City of Maricopa are many. The State may even want to partner with the city. A developer can do the same.
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A: The Scottsdale Airpark is a private development that is not owned by City of Scottsdale, and thus is not part of the airport. The only revenue the airport receives from this development is an access fee from those users within the Airpark that maintain “through-the-fence” access for their aircraft. Thus, the airport’s ability to be self-sufficient is not related to the Airpark development.
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A: The land around an airport is ideal for economic development. This is true in big cities, as well as small. The airport industrial park in Kingman, Arizona employs half of the working population in Mohave County. Houston built its new airport on the opposite side of town almost 50 miles away from the existing airport and away from any significant population center. Now, the concentration of population at the Houston Intercontinental Airport is extreme. The same can be said for the Dulles Airport in the Washington, D.C. area.

The City of Maricopa has been doing appropriate planning to balance industrial uses with other uses. Placing compatible uses next to each other is part of the planning that can be done in advance in a new and growing community. A review of the City’s General Plan suggests that the City is planning the two highway corridors as the focus of employment centers; the proposed airport site is located along that corridor as well. The plan provides the City with multi-modal options to serve a multitude of business/industrial opportunities that can help to diversify the local economy and tax base.
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A: According the 2002 economic impact study prepared for the Arizona DOT Airports Division, the Estrella Sailport employed 19 people and had an economic impact of $2.9 million annually on the area economy. The Casa Grande Municipal Airport has 28 employed at the airport (the city employs two full-time and two part-time on the airport). Visitors to Casa Grande via the airport were found to spend $11.1 million in the area annually. Given the anticipated growth of Maricopa and Pinal County, the new airport’s activity is expected to grow initially from something comparable to Buckeye Municipal Airport to that of the Glendale Airport. Beyond that, the Maricopa Airport area has a solid continuing growth position. The advent of the Very Small Jet is a major part of the long term FAA forecast. The Maricopa Airport will be in a key facility to accommodate this type of development.
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