With a company

expressing interest in locating a FAA-certified repair station at Falcon

Field, the Peachtree City Airport Authority may ask for a third redesign

of its Hangar Area B project.

The project,

which is currently designed to have six hangars, may be redesigned to

combine two of those hangars into one facility. Airport Authority Chairwoman

Catherine Nelmes said at Wednesday's authority meeting that it would be

nice to attract such a facility to Falcon Field.

"It's

what people have been telling us they need services," Nelmes told

The Citizen after the meeting.

The company

that has approached Nelmes and Airport Manager Jim Savage with its interest

could also locate at the Hunting hangar facility or another vacant area,

she added.

"They

have an interest, and company representatives have been coming to some

of our meetings," Nelmes said.

Specifically,

the airport has a need for a maintenance and avionics facility, Nelmes

added.

The authority's

recent decision to do away with its old commercial fee structure has helped

renew interest in commercial operations locating here, Nelmes said. The

authority formerly charged commercial operators 2 percent of gross profits,

but recently that was dropped.

On-airport

commercial operators will pay 45 cents per square foot on a monthly basis

for space at Hangar Area B, the authority decided during Wednesday's meeting.

The action was unanimous.

There are several

catches in redesigning the current six-hangar configuration planned for

Hangar Area B. First, three people have already placed deposits on three

of the six hangar locations. In doing so, those people reserved specific

hangar sites, leaving three odd sites which likely can't be combined into

one larger facility.

Another snag

preventing a redesign could be the elevations of each hangar site, which

may not lead to combining two of the hangar lots, Savage said.

A grant from

the Federal Aviation Administration for the third phase of the Hangar

Area B project is expected to be announced soon, Savage noted. The grant

would cover $367,000 of the total $407,000 cost to construct the hangar

sites. The hangars themselves will be constructed by whomever leases the

sites from the authority.

The Georgia

Department of Transportation is also expected to provide a grant of almost

$16,000 for the project, though those funds won't be available right away,

Savage noted. That could slow up the project since the DOT won't fund

a project that is already under construction, meaning construction must

be held until the grant is received, Savage added.

The only local

funds expected to be used for the project total almost $25,000.

In hopes the

federal grant comes in sooner than expected, the authority authorized

Nelmes to sign the grant acceptance paperwork and other materials related

to the construction at Hangar Area B.

the fee at 45 cents a square foot at Hangar Area B, the authority is hoping

to discourage the use of that area for aircraft storage so full-fledged

commercial operations can locate there in the future.

The authority

has undertaken a marketing campaign trying to get jet-based operators

to locate at Hangar Area B with the idea that the authority sees a greater

profit on the sales of jet fuel. An operation buying a large amount of

jet fuel would provide more funds to the authority than would be gained

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