McCall council reviews who should pay to bring water, sewer and power to airport infield hangar development

McCall City Council and staff spent the bulk of a July 17 special meeting discussing whether the city should help finance extending water, sewer and power to the airport infield so a private developer can build additional hangars.

The topic drew a public comment from a resident, Marsha, who urged the council to reconsider using franchise-fee revenue — a charge paid by McCall electricity customers — for the project. “Franchise fees are fees on the end user, who are the McCall City residents and businesses,” Marsha said, and noted the council’s January ordinance A62 that increased franchise fees from 1% to 3% had been discussed publicly as funding to underground existing overhead lines, improve aesthetics and reduce wildfire risk.

Emily Hart, McCall Airport manager, briefed the council on the project history, infrastructure needs and cost estimates. She said the developer whose RFP the city accepted in April has proposed building up to 17 hangars (the developer’s proposal later mentioned 21–28 leaseholds depending on ASOS relocation) and has offered to install utilities concurrently with building foundations. Hart described the existing utilities in the infield as limited — a 6-inch water line on one side and a sewer…