Airport staff recommend one‑year operating agreement with car‑sharing platform Turo; agreement includes revenue share and insurance requirements

Airport staff recommended a one‑year operating agreement with Turo Inc. during the Oct. 17 committee meeting, proposing designated airport parking for car‑sharing transactions and an airport revenue share.

Under the draft agreement, Turo may use designated parking areas at Lakeland Airport to facilitate peer‑to‑peer car rentals, and the airport would receive 10% of Turo’s gross receipts generated from transactions on airport property. The staff memo says the gross receipts calculation excludes taxes, tolls, parking fines and similar items. Either party may terminate the operating agreement with 30 days’ notice.

The operating agreement requires Turo to maintain insurance and indemnify the city for property damage and bodily injury arising from Turo operations on airport property; staff said the insurance requirement in the draft was $1 million per occurrence, and that the city retains the right to audit records related to airport transactions. The committee discussed how the city’s insurance threshold compares to other nearby airports and asked staff to check whether standard market practice or volume differences justify the higher limit.

Staff noted that the operating agreement is a one‑year pilot; the airport will monitor utilization and may renew the arrangement by mutual agreement. The committee recommended the item for consent and asked staff to confirm insurance comparables and share additional information if asked by commissioners.