The Lake Havasu City Council says it’s time to develop the airport’s remaining 50 acres to meet growing demand for more hangars and other aviation-related services. However, many details still need to be worked out, such as who, how and when this land will be developed.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the council provided a crash course in airport hangars from Interim Airport Manager Paul Blazer, including how many hangars currently exist at Lake Havasu City Airport, the growing demand for more hangars, and the cost of constructing hangars. received. The council also heard from a handful of airport users about the lack of hangars and the kind of development they would like to see.
Blazer also spoke to the council about the city’s now open Request for Proposals and called on private developers to bring their plans to the table. But on Wednesday Havasu extended that deadline to May 12th.
The issue was brought to the Council as an item for discussion at the request of Board Member Jim Dolan, who serves as the Council’s liaison to the Airports Advisory Committee. Dolan said he hopes the council will discuss the issue because it is a frequent topic at airport meetings and airport users often ask about the council’s hangar plans.
“The council has no concrete plans,” Dolan said. “We have never really discussed this matter. It is a big part of our city that brings in a lot of income and a variety of income streams.”
Tuesday’s hearing was agenda-only, so no specific plans were discussed for how to develop the airport’s remaining land, and no official vote was held. They seem to agree that the development of the hangar is necessary and should be one of the Council’s priorities going forward. But the council also left a choice on how its development should take place.
“As a council, I think we need to stay focused on addressing the hangar issue,” Mayor Cal Sheehy said. I think there is a good need, from an economic development point of view, and from the general aviation user side, that we need to do something, whether or not it’s a future argument that we have to do. The area hasn’t had a hangar development in a long time, but it’s been requested throughout my time on the council.
Blazer told the council that there are currently 119 hangars at Havasu Airport, with a total of 376,000 square feet of hangar space. He said Havasu will need an additional 160,000 square feet of hangar space over the next 10 to 20 years, according to the airport’s master plan.
Of the airport’s current hangars, 52 are owned by fixed base operator companies. Another 41 are privately owned hangars whose owners pay rent for the land on which the hangars are located. Blazer said ground leases cost him 13 cents per square foot, with most leases ranging from $150 to $200 per month.
The city also owns 26 box hangars that it leases to airport users for between $477 and $718 per month, depending on the hangar aspect.
Blazer told the council that hangars are very popular at all airports because they provide protection from the elements. Blazer said Havasu currently has a waiting list of 104 people who want to rent the hangar, of which he said 55 would also consider Shadeport if available. Blazer said the waiting list is getting longer and longer these days. He estimates that this list is only about one-third what he was five years ago.
“The demand for the Lake Havasu hangar is really high,” said Blazer. “We’re seeing developments like the Riviera and others where the customers who own those homes usually own the aircraft. We’re inundated with inquiries.”
A local pilot, Andy Holthe, provided the council with a general idea of the price tag associated with plane maintenance, and that rather than leaving the plane tethered outdoors in the sun, pilots were forced into hangars. I explained my strong desire. He said it costs about $12,000 to put windows on the plane, a good paint job is about $30,000 to $40,000 for him, and about $100,000 for the panels and avionics on the plan.
“So it’s almost impossible to stay sitting here on the tarmac. I just don’t want to,” he said.
The City of Lake Havasu is seeking suggestions from private developers for plans on how best to develop the land available at the airport to meet the needs of the airport and its users. The RFP was initially open for three weeks, but the deadline for proposals has been extended by 16 days.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Blazer said the city is considering developing about 50 acres on the southwestern end of the runway. Havasu’s request specifically addresses the need for hangars, aircraft maintenance facilities, and flight instruction facilities that meet all FAA standards. It also presents prospective applicants with a map of the area in question, as well as an airport master plan that includes airport development goals for the next 20 years.
“We have set up an RFP to receive proposals from private parties based on what they can offer the airport,” said City Manager Jess Knudson. “So we’re not micromanaging our approach. Except to say that this is what the airport masterplan calls for and here are some of the needs we have at the airport. Bring us your ideas and investments on how we can create an environment that works for airport users.”
Knudson said Havasu issued the same RFP about six to eight months ago, but hadn’t received any proposals at the time. But the city seems likely to get at least one offer this time. Public During his comment period, Havasu Aviation Center owner Dante Marinelli said he expects to submit proposals by Wednesday’s deadline, which has now been extended.
Knudson told Congress the city will form a selection committee to review all proposals submitted by the deadline. He said the members had not yet been decided, but said they would include city officials who are experts in the field, as well as others with aviation knowledge.
Knudson said the selection committee’s first step is to score each proposal it receives. They will then meet with the applicant and conduct an interview. Interviews are also scored. The committee then decides which proposal is best for the airport, its users and the city as a whole.
Once a proposal is selected, the city will negotiate contracts on when and how the development will be completed and how it will operate.
The contract will then be sent to the city council to make a final decision on whether to proceed with the deal, Knudson said.
At the meeting, a total of ten citizens spoke to the council about the hangar, including nine who use the facility regularly.
All of the speakers agreed there was a strong demand for additional hangars, and the two pilots shared that they had been on the city’s waiting list for over a decade. Other speakers said it’s common for people to drive around the airport from hangar to hangar, asking if they have extra space.
Several of the speakers specifically spoke about the need for small hangars and said they hoped that those needs would not be lost in the chaos.
“A lot of people are looking for a box hangar or a T hangar,” says Victor Vance. “I think a lot of us are afraid of big business guys building big executive hangars and taking over all the land, where he could fit 50 planes. but instead he has four big planes on board.”
Havasu resident Jim Holdeman, who owns an airline management company in Southern California, told the council how the additional hangar will bring an aspect of his business to Havasu.
