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Vernal Airport awarded $250,000 rural communities grant; city adds $150,000 to utilities project
Summary
Uintah County commissioners accepted a $250,000 Rural Communities Opportunity Grant for utility extension to a southern taxi lane at Vernal Regional Airport; Vernal City pledged an additional $150,000 toward a $400,000 utilities package to support corporate hangars and future development.
Commissioners voted to accept a Utah Rural Communities Opportunity Grant that will fund utility work at Vernal Regional Airport, airport director Ken Campbell told the Uintah County Commission.
Campbell said the county applied for the $250,000 grant as a pass-through to Vernal City, and Vernal City has committed an additional $150,000, producing a $400,000 package to extend utilities to the Delta taxi lane and support corporate hangar development. He said the grant line item treats the award as a pass-through with Vernal City as project manager; the county had previously approved the application.
"We received that grant for $250,000 with the addition of another $150,000 put in by Vernal City," Ken Campbell said at the meeting. The commission voted to accept the grant unanimously.
Campbell said a local corporation has agreed to build a hangar on the Delta taxi lane and that extending utilities will make the site suitable for corporate-level hangars without shifting costs to developers. He also provided a broader update on airport service: the airport made federal enplanement thresholds in 2024 that qualify it for maximum federal subsidy available to the field, he said.
Campbell said the airport has secured interline connections that expand travelers' options: Contour Airlines now has an interline with American Airlines through Phoenix and (recently) with United Airlines through Denver, allowing passengers to connect to many more destinations. He said 5 of up to an authorized 12 weekly flights were available for sale at the time of the meeting.
After his presentation, Campbell corrected an inaccuracy from his earlier remarks about the grant match. He clarified that Vernal City's $150,000 is treated as a portion of the local match and that private hangar connection fees could provide the remaining $150,000, describing the final division of match funding as a combination of county funds, Vernal City funds and private connection fees.
The commission approved acceptance of the Rural Communities Opportunity Grant by voice vote. Contract number noted in the agenda was 2506-32587.
