The Garfield County Board of Commissioners approved two airport items Tuesday: a development plan for a new fuel farm proposed by Vantage Aviation and a concept plan for Parcel A7, a proposed hangar and vehicle-parking project the applicant values at roughly $11 million.

Sam Carver, Airport Director, described the proposed fuel farm as adjacent to the existing west-end fuel facility and consisting of roughly 5,075 square feet of improvements, including 320,000 gallons of jet fuel tanks, a 112,000-gallon low-lead tank, and 1,000 gallons of split tanks for auto gas and diesel. The construction budget presented to the board was approximately $1.2 million. Vantage representatives said they will own the new fuel farm and would pay the same fuel flowage fee as other operators; the county currently owns and receives storage fees for the older on‑field tanks at Atlantic Aviation.

The board also approved Vantage’s concept plan for Parcel A7, a hangar project the airport team described as supporting future demand and adding a public vehicle parking area (40-plus spaces) intended to serve customers and tenants. Vantage and partners said approval of the concept plan will let them proceed to more detailed development and permitting steps under the airport’s development guide and that ground-lease terms and fees would match prior approved parcels (A2, A5 and A6).

Commissioners pressed for clarity on ownership and revenue mechanics: staff explained that Atlantic Aviation currently operates on county-owned tanks (the county receives a storage fee and a fuel flowage fee of roughly $0.19 per gallon), while Vantage would own their tanks and therefore not pay a storage fee but would pay the same flowage fee. The board discussed a proposed county pole‑barn (equipment storage) replacement — estimated at about $125,000 — that Vantage would build and for which the airport would consider a rent-credit arrangement to recoup the developer investment over time. Staff said the credit would be calculated as the difference between the cost to build a new barn and the cost the county would otherwise spend to move existing sheds (a partial credit tied to airport benefit).

The board’s approvals were unanimous; commissioners also confirmed that building permits and other downstream approvals will continue to come before the board unless the board delegates permit signature authority to the airport director.