Commissioners, airport board discuss opening Piper hangar to house Texas Forest Service and standardize leases

Hutchinson County commissioners and the airport board discussed plans to reclaim the county's Piper hangar, house Texas Forest Service crews there and standardize hangar leases at a commissioners court meeting.

Alex Bravo, chairman of the Hutchinson County airport board, told the court the county’s top hangar is currently being used for private storage and that reopening it would let the county share space with the Texas Forest Service so crews and aircraft can be staged and sheltered locally. “We want them housed here, and it brings a faster response time to the Hutchison County,” Bravo said.

The discussion focused on three aims: make the Piper hangar available to Texas Forest Service (TFS) to improve response times for local wildfires; free adjoining hangar space for paying tenants (Apollo was cited as unable to use its rented space because of overflow storage); and join a fuel-discount “part 91” club to attract transient flights and fuel revenue. Chase, identified in the meeting as representing the Forest Service, thanked officials for hosting TFS aircraft and noted the service could operate single-engine scooper flights in suitable morning windows if staged locally.

Commissioners stressed the county must treat existing tenants consistently. County staff said current occupancies are month-to-month, the county attorney has drafted an eviction notice for the tenant occupying the Piper hangar and leases are being prepared to apply uniformly to all hangars. Court members said any eviction notice and the new leases must be placed on a future agenda for formal approval. “We can't make or, really, we understand the desire for the Piper hangar. We just can't single out one person,” a commissioner said during the discussion.

Airport representatives asked the court to authorize staff to finalize standardized lease verbiage and to set per-hangar pricing or square-foot rates. Bravo said the airport will prepare an overview map with each hangar labeled and priced, and that the court should consider an item to permit the airport to apply for membership in a fuel discount club; officials said the application must be placed on the court’s agenda and voted on before the airport submits an application.

The court and airport discussed operational details for prioritizing space when both civil transient aircraft and TFS aircraft need shelter. Bravo said priority would go to firefighting operations when there is a high fire or wind alert; transient pilots typically call ahead and the airport can plan around those requests. Commissioners suggested an overnight/transient agreement (an intake form or contract) to record liability and damages for transient aircraft.

No formal vote on eviction or leases was taken. The court directed staff to place the eviction notice, standardized leases (with final pricing per hangar or per-square-foot structure), and the airport’s fuel-club application on the next agenda so commissioners can consider formal approval.

The airport board and court additionally discussed operational benefits if TFS stages there: room to store retardant, hoses and pumps inside the hangar; a conference/coordination space; and improved local readiness compared with relying on resources based in Abilene or Amarillo. Bravo said the Piper hangar doors had not been opened in about a decade and that freeing the hangar would better serve local firefighting and attract transient traffic that would buy fuel and use county hotels and restaurants.

The court closed the airport item by asking staff to prepare the leases, eviction materials and a per-hangar pricing map for the next commissioners court meeting so the court could vote on formal contracts and related policies.