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Forest Lake council authorizes bid advertising for 300-foot runway extension at municipal airport
Summary
City council authorized advertising for bids on a project to extend Forest Lake Airport's runway and Taxiway A after staff and consultants told the council MnDOT will likely fund construction in state fiscal 2026 but the state participation rate recently fell to 90% from 95%, raising the city's local share.
Forest Lake City Council on Monday authorized staff to advertise for bids to extend the runway and Taxiway A at Forest Lake Airport, moving the project from design into procurement while awaiting final grant awards from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
City staff and consultant Silas (Bolton & Menk) told the council the project would add 300 feet to the airport's 2,700-foot runway, bringing it to the 3,000-foot length recommended in the airport master plan to improve operational safety. Silas said MnDOT's Office of Aeronautics offered a 2025 design-and-bid-administration grant and that construction funding would be sought in state fiscal 2026.
The project's current construction cost estimate is $1.3 million. Silas said MnDOT recently changed its participation rate for state-only airports from 95% to 90%, increasing Forest Lake's estimated local share from about 5% (roughly $70,000) to about 10% (roughly $140,000). Mark Stotts, city administrator, told the council that increase could push the project outside the city's planned budget for this year and recommended getting bids to see actual prices before committing to construction.
"At this point, we're back to the 90/10," Silas said, explaining the state program and timeline. He told the council that if they proceed to advertise, bids would open June 18 and a potential award would return to the council on June 23. "The funding is for state fiscal year '26. So anytime between July 1 and 06/30/2026, sometime in that period, council would need to make a decision to move forward with the project or to turn back the funds," he said.
Stotts said staff and the airport commission consider the extension valuable but noted uncertainty in airport finances and recommended two options: pause and send the project back to the airport commission for re-evaluation, or advertise for bids now so the city has real numbers to present to MnDOT and the commission. "I think that would be staff's recommendation at this point would be to go forward with the bidding," Stotts said.
Council members voted to authorize advertising for bids by voice vote; council members were not recorded individually in the minutes. Council discussion emphasized that proceeding to bid would cost little additional money because design work was covered by the grant and would produce firm prices for later funding decisions.
If MnDOT awards construction funds in the state's FY26 round, the city would later decide whether to accept the grant and proceed to construction within the FY26 window. No construction contract award or city financial commitment beyond advertising for bids was made at the meeting.
The city identified Bolton & Menk as the airport consultant working on design and bid administration and said the project scheduling and final scope remain contingent on MnDOT's grant award.
