Airport advisory urges runway safety work, revisits ground-lease policy as apron rehab bid comes in over budget

Grand County commissioners received an update May 20 from the Airport Advisory Committee on runway safety work, hangar ground-lease policy and apron rehabilitation projects, and directed staff to develop firm recommendations for board consideration.

Advisory committee chair Dennis Carpenter explained why the committee supports creating displaced thresholds on Runway 9 and Runway 27 at Granby/20 Victor to increase usable takeoff length; the committee said the FAA approved the displaced-threshold concept in the airport master plan but noted the FAA had previously indicated it would not fund the work. Carpenter said the committee would like to complete the runway safety area on Runway 27 this summer using county resources where feasible to make the project shovel-ready for grant funding.

Ground-lease review: the committee recommended revisiting county hangar lease terms and moving to industry-standard ground-lease structures so hangar owners, not the county, remain responsible for long-term maintenance. The committee and contractor advisers said it's common for airports to prefer private ownership and shorter county lease terms so the airport does not remain the owner and maintenance burden for aging structures.

Apron rehabilitation: Airport staff reported that bids to rehabilitate the Granby apron came in much higher than the project budget. Staff recommended removing a portion of the scope ("schedule 2") to bring costs closer to funding, and said they are negotiating with the FAA, CDOT and bidders to identify additional funds or scope reductions. Staff said the current bid total for the full package was roughly $3.3 million and that removing schedule 2 would lower the price to about $2.65 million; with some reallocation of grant/local funds the county could approach the bid estimate for schedule 1 but remains short without additional funding.

Fuel and grant assurances: staff also briefed commissioners on FAA Grant Assurance 40 implications for avgas (100LL) and unleaded replacement fuels; recent guidance changes mean the county may not need to hold three separate fuel tanks if an FAA-authorized unleaded avgas becomes widely available. Airport Supervisor Sean Mahoney said fuel-transition choices will affect tank and pump configuration and that the county's existing fuel provider will influence which unleaded product is offered.

Next steps: the advisory committee asked staff to prepare formal recommendations on runway safety-area work and updated ground-lease language for commission review, and to continue negotiations and re-bidding options on the apron rehabilitation project.