Improvements to relieve Springfield airport

City Council Aug. 21 approved an intergovernmental cooperative agreement between the cities of Springfield and Ozark for the $10.4 million expansion and improvement project for the Air Park South facility in Ozark.

The project will be financed through a combination of state and federal funds and Springfield-Branson Regional Airport general aviation funds. Once the improvements are made, Air Park South will be owned and operated by the city of Springfield through the Airport Board.

Work could begin on the project as early as October, according to Rob Hancik, the director of aviation for the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport. Air Park South will be expanded to encompass 126 acres and its buildings will be razed to make way for a new terminal building and hangars. A new, longer runway will be built to accommodate twin-engine and turboprop planes. The 15 planes currently housed at the facility are single-engine planes, Hancik said. The improvements will allow as many as 73 airports to utilize Air Park South.

"We're trying to conserve airport capacity not only the capacity of the Springfield-Branson Airport, but other airports in the state," Hancik said. "Airports nowadays are very difficult to keep in operation, and to build a new one is very, very difficult because of all the environmental concerns."

He said the Springfield-Branson airport is out of space for small aircraft and many owners of small aircraft are based in southeast Springfield, which he said is a side issue, but also a factor. Another factor the Airport Board considered when they made the decision to step in on the Air Park South project is the possibility that the Downtown Airport, a private, family-owned airport in north Springfield, might one day cease operation. Hancik said if Air Park South and Downtown Airport ceased operation, small aircraft owners in the Springfield area would have no local airport.

"I don't think the Coopers (the family that owns Downtown Airport) have any imminent plans to close that airport, but at some point in the future, they will probably get out of the airport business. That may be 20 years from now," Hancik said. "They have 35 to 40 airplanes over there, and if they were to close that facility today, we would have no place to put those planes."

Hancik said talks began about 18 months ago between the Airport Board and the city of Ozark for the city of Springfield to acquire and make improvements to the 40-year-old Air Park South, located on 46 acres along Tracker Road in Ozark. The city of Ozark purchased the 80 acres of land south of the existing airport with the intention of taking on the project, but could not get the project off the ground, said Collin Quigley, Ozark city administrator.

"What's beneficial to us about the city of Springfield getting involved with the airport is its experience and expertise at operating an airport, and the financial backing to get this project moving along," Quigley said. "From Ozark's perspective, we won't have the liability or the responsibility of operating and maintaining this property, but we will get the benefits the airport would bring to our city, such as development activities and increased profile to the area."

Quigley said a representative from Ozark will serve on Springfield's Airport Board as a non-voting member. A Branson representative now serves on the Airport Board as a non-voting member.

Hancik said he contacted the mayor of Ozark about the Airport Board becoming involved in the Air Park South project, then learned that the state of Missouri wanted to see the project happen, as well.

The Airport Board will purchase the existing Ozark airport, owned by Thomas E. and Mary Ashley, and assume the lease of the additional 80 acres from Ozark's Public Building Corporation after the purchase. The facility has an appraised value of about $2.4 million, Hancik said. The intergovernmental agreement between Springfield and Ozark is necessary because state law normally prohibits a city from owning real estate in another county, Hancik said.

Hancik said a flight school with planes available for rent will probably be reinstated at Air Park South once the improvements are made, but such services would be left to private enterprise. He said a single individual employed by the Springfield-Branson airport will operate Air Park South.