The meeting will be 1-3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the Caldwell City Hall Council Chambers, 107 Hill St., during which Texas Department of Transportation Aviation Division representatives will collect information to devise the latest airport development plan.
Also discussed will be economic activity in general, focusing specifically on airport improvements relating to safety, access, local economic enhancement and community development.
Funding procedures for state and federal financial programs will be on the agenda.
TxDOT officials said the meeting will offer the rare opportunity to provide essential input for airport planning and promotes an exchange of ideas and information with neighboring airport sponsors, TxDOT representatives, elected officials and interested members of the public.
Michelle Hannah, TxDOT airport planner, said federal airport improvement grants have been offered since 1982. During each new funding term, personnel visit about 100 small-scale airstrips, representing a sampling of 365 regional commercial service and reliever airports such as Cameron and Rockdale. Visits are followed up by planning meetings.
Since it opened in 1966, Cameron Municipal Airpark has received about $1 million in federally funded improvements for pavement upgrades and lighting in 1992, 2005 and 2006, Ms. Hannah said.
The airport, with a landing strip measuring 3,200 feet by 50 feet, can accommodate single engine small aircraft, and possibly a small jet, Mrs. Hannah said.
TxDOT's Routine Airport Maintenance Program or RAMP grants involved a fully grant-funded $15,000 project at Cameron Municipal Airpark for lighting, approach maintenance and supplies.
On Cameron's wish list for the next round of funding is upgrading its aviation fuel station to accommodate credit card transactions, and installing a state-of-the-art AWOS, or Automatic Weather Observing System, Cameron City Manager Ricky Tow said.
Since Rockdale did not have a municipal airport until 1987, less federal grant money has been spent there, Ms. Hannah said.
Rockdale got its first facility when the Texas Episcopal Church deeded an airport and 70 acres once owned by multi-millionaire and Rockdale native H.H. "Pete" Coffield.
Coffield died in the 1970s and bequeathed his massive holdings to the Episcopal Church, Boy Scouts of America and the Salvation Army. Rockdale, in response to the gift, named its first airpark at U.S. Highway 77 and FM 908 the H.H. Coffield Regional Airport.
Boasting a 3,084-foot by 50-foot runway that accommodates small size personal aircraft, the airport recently underwent $230,000 in runway and parking improvements. In the upcoming grant program it will seek federal money to install a lighting system along the runway, City Manager Kelvin Knauf said. About 10 plans are permanently stationed there, Knauf said.
Regional planning meetings are funded through an FAA grant, and TxDOT updates its Texas Airport System Plan as a result of the information collected at these meetings, said Bob Colwell, public information officer for TxDOT's Bryan District. The TxDOT Aviation Division offers several funding assistance programs for municipal airports, Colwell said.
