Airport manager says land‑release process advancing; appraisal and consolidated EA steps next

The Kingman airport manager updated the council on efforts to obtain a land release for roughly 790 acres at the airport industrial park and said recent meetings with the FAA and airport compliance office provided a path to move forward.

Staff reported a December meeting in Phoenix with the airport district office that yielded "positive traction," including an approach to avoid multiple sequential environmental assessments. The airport manager said the city is obtaining an appraisal for the approximately 790 acres and expects the appraisal within about a month; once the appraisal is included in a formal letter requesting a land release, the airport compliance office will consider issuing a letter of intent to proceed.

The airport manager said FAA staff agreed that the city could set criteria—guidelines defining acceptable types of buyers and businesses—for which a single consolidated environmental assessment (EA) would suffice, avoiding repeated smaller EAs that slow sales. He said the city intends to exclude high water‑use or heavily polluting uses from the single‑EA pathway so that buyers with those profiles would require separate, additional review.

One infrastructure item the airport manager said must be included in the EA is a new 18‑inch sewer line of roughly 6,800 feet that will tie into an existing 27‑inch main. That alignment crosses undisturbed ground and will require cultural resources review under SHPO and a brief supplemental analysis in the EA, the manager said.

The manager said the industrial park master development plan and an earlier environmental assessment are about 95% complete and should speed the process. FAA follow‑up meetings were planned to finalize remaining questions before staff returns to council with a recommendation.

Ending: Council received the report and asked staff to return with any FAA responses and a proposed schedule for the land release and EA work.