Warren County committee approves FAA grant application, schedules public hearings for solar-lease amendments; master plan presented

Warren County supervisors on the Facilities Committee on a voice vote authorized the chairman to submit a federal grant application to the Federal Aviation Administration and the New York State Department of Transportation for design of the airport’s apron and taxiway Bravo reconstruction, and set public hearings on amendments to ground leases with Nexamp’s Northern Gateway Renewables and Southern Gateway Renewables.

The grant request was described at the meeting as not to exceed $221,898 for the design portion of the project. A staff member said the funding split for the design request is “90 percent funded by the FAA, 5 percent funded by the state, and that 5% local match.” The motion to submit the grant application was moved by Supervisor Thomas and seconded by Supervisor DeRossi; the committee voted “aye” with no opposition recorded.

The committee also took up two related lease items for Nexamp solar arrays and voted to set a public hearing for both resolutions. County counsel and project negotiators said the lease amendments narrow the property description to only the parcels with the two arrays, add or increase lines of insurance for construction and operation, and incorporate the decommissioning agreements and bonds that the Town of Queensbury negotiated for the projects. Counsel said Nexamp requested a one-year extension of the construction option, moving the construction completion deadline to August 30, 2026, to account for possible unforeseen conditions.

McFarland Johnson, the county’s airport-planning consultant, gave an update on the airport master-plan update. Steve Burke, airport planner with McFarland Johnson, said the study’s purpose is to develop an airport layout plan update to guide the county for the next 20 years while focusing on the next 10 years. Burke described planned tasks including an inventory, aeronautical and boundary surveys, a 20-year forecast of operations, facility requirements and alternatives, environmental inventory and permitting, and public outreach. He said the aerial portion of the aeronautical survey was completed last summer and the team hoped to produce a working draft in the spring, with an updated Airport Layout Plan set targeted for December 2026 and project closeout in 2027.

Supervisor Kyle and others urged that the environmental inventory and a defensible operations forecast be emphasized so future FAA funding and approvals are not jeopardized. Burke said the team will review the county’s current master plan performance as part of the inventory and will form a technical advisory committee and a master plan advisory committee to guide public outreach.

Why it matters: the grant would pay the design costs for a section of airfield infrastructure the county said has five to 10 years of remaining useful life; the lease amendments and construction-extension requests affect the county’s legal agreements with a private solar developer and will be considered again after the scheduled public hearings. The master-plan update will determine what improvements are eligible for FAA funding because items not on the Airport Layout Plan normally are not eligible for FAA grants.

Committee action and next steps: the grant application authorization passed on a voice vote; the committee set public hearings on the two Nexamp lease amendments (Northern Gateway Renewables and Southern Gateway Renewables). Staff said they will return with the public-hearing dates and the master-plan advisory committee membership.