Forsyth County eyes $2 million FAA grant for Smith Reynolds tower; recommends Avcon for design work

Forsyth County officials told the Board of Commissioners on Jan. 16 that the Federal Aviation Administration plans to fund a $2,000,000 renovation of the control tower at Smith Reynolds Airport and that county staff recommend contracting Avcon Engineers and Planners to produce design and bidding documents.

The project is funded through the FAA’s Federal Contract Tower Program for fiscal 2025, airport director Mark Davidson said. “The 100% funded grant of 2,000,000 is larger than any other airport listed and will help renovating the tower at Smith Reynolds Airport, which we the county own,” Davidson said.

County staff said the North Carolina Department of Transportation requires the county to complete bidding, rebidding (if needed) and determine a low bidder with the NCDOT airport project manager by April 15, 2025, to keep the grant on track. To meet that deadline, staff recommended executing an agreement with Avcon Engineers and Planners, including task order 2024-2 in the amount of $165,700 for project formulation, construction documents, bid assistance, permitting, grant administration support and an asbestos survey. The work will include coordination with NCDOT and the FAA to obtain National Environmental Policy Act approval, Davidson said.

“Task order 2024 includes project formulation, construction documents, and bid assistance,” Davidson said. The county said Avcon’s work will be reimbursable under the grant with no local match required.

Separately, staff described an amendment to the Smith Reynolds Airport Capital Projects Ordinance originally funded with a $925,294 transfer from restricted airport fund balance to pay a contract with WC Construction Company for a car wash project. Staff said NCDOT has approved use of interest earnings from a State Capital Infrastructure Fund grant instead of the transfer; the amendment would return the previously transferred fund balance to the airport subfund and increase appropriations for interest earnings to offset the car wash cost.

Commissioners asked routine questions about the master service agreement process and why Avcon was selected; airport staff said the county uses five-year master service agreements that emphasize qualifications rather than price and that Avcon is the current, approved engineer/planner for airport projects.

No formal vote on the Avcon agreement or the CPO amendment is recorded in the briefing transcript; both items were presented for consideration and staff recommended moving forward to contract execution and grant administration steps.

Provenance: County airport briefing began at 00:12:13 and the discussion of task order details continued through 00:13:50 in the transcript.