Visalia airport spreads wings
New taxi ramps attract large commercial hangar.
By Tim Sheehan / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Tuesday, November 22, 2005, 6:05 AM)
VISALIA — Millions of dollars worth of improvements to Visalia Municipal Airport could start paying dividends as new areas of the airport property open for business.
City planners and engineers are evaluating plans by pilot and businessman David Lanham for a 15,600-square-foot hangar to house and fuel a small fleet of commercial airplanes. It will be the first new hangar along either of two new taxi ramps built last year to lure business traffic to the airport.
The hangar proposed by Lanham's Optimal Aviation Services "is a pretty big hangar, one of the larger ones we'd have out here," Airport Manager Mario Cifuentez said.
Lanham said he plans to house six Beechcraft King Air 200B twin-turboprop business aircraft in the building. Some of those airplanes already are based at the airport, he said, while others would be new arrivals. The hangar will include no offices or maintenance facilities, but will have fuel storage to keep the airplanes' tanks topped off.
"We want to go ahead with this," Lanham said. "We're already two months behind where we'd wanted to be by this time."
Before Lanham can build, he will need approval from the city's Airport Committee as well as the Tulare County Airport Land Use Commission. Once those groups sign off, principal planner Paul Scheibel said, Lanham can apply to the Visalia Planning Commission for a land-use permit.
Lanham's hangar will be the first in an area opened for access by the new taxi ramps. The 16-acre section is south of the airport's fire station, along Hangars Way.
"When we built those taxiways, that was the whole idea, that if someone wanted to come in and build their own hangar we'd have a place ready for them to go," Cifuentez said. The airport will install access gates for vehicles to reach the hangars from Hangar Drive.
Cifuentez hopes Lanham's project will spur interest from others. "We've seen before that once a new hangar goes up, others take notice ... and it becomes a self-perpetuating thing," Cifuentez said.
"There's a larger number of corporate aircraft that people want to relocate here; we can lease them the land at a reasonable price and they can afford to build their own hangar and economically it makes sense for them."
The ramps, south of the airport's fire station, were part of $1.4 million in improvements last year to improve the airport's service capabilities.
In addition to the taxiways, a row of small hangars to be leased for private airplanes was built; the runway safety area was graded; the parking lot for the passenger terminal was rebuilt and expanded; and the lot for the rental car area was rebuilt.
"The whole premise is looking ahead, looking at the possibilities for growth," Cifuentez said.
"Within the confines of our federal dollars, we'd like to set ourselves up to be in a position to accommodate development."
It all adds up to more use of the airport facilities. More than 160 aircraft are based at Visalia Municipal Airport — mostly private airplanes housed in 103 small hangars.
But there are a number of larger corporate hangars similar to Lanham's, where a company leases the land from the airport for up to 40 years and constructs its own building. At the lease's end, the property and building revert to city ownership.
Lanham's hangar is one of perhaps a dozen large buildings that could fit in the new area, according to a concept plan prepared by a consultant.
But the east side of the runway isn't the only part of the airport that could see increased development.
Work is nearing completion on improvements with the potential to attract more customers. A new $2.9 million west taxiway will eliminate potentially dangerous midfield crossings by planes based on that side of the field.
"The pavement is done, but it's not open yet," Cifuentez said.
"We've got the striping about 50% done; electricians are about 80% done with wiring for lights and signs."
Already, Cifuentez added, there is business interest in the west side.
"We envision mostly cargo business on this side," he said as he showed off the newly paved taxiway that runs the length of the 6,500-foot runway. "I've asked our engineer to come up with a plan for the west side to show how it could be laid out."
Other commercial interests with airport-related needs also could find a home off the west taxiway, officials said.
Between what is inside the fenced perimeter and surrounding land that includes Plaza Park, Valley Oaks Golf Course and the John Jay Inn site, the airport owns 720 acres.
That's likely to grow over the next few years as the airport embarks upon its next big goal: to lengthen the runway and taxiways to at least 8,000 feet to handle larger aircraft such as Boeing 737 jets.
The project, with an estimated cost of about $6.2 million, will require the city to buy a significant amount of property, upward of 350 acres, at the south end of the runway to maintain a required safety zone clear of homes or other structures.
Much of the new work of the past two years has been paid for with federal airport improvement grants that cover 90% to 95% of the cost.
When the runway extension happens also will depend on when grant money becomes available, Cifuentez said, but it is included in the city's capital improvement plan for the next five years.
Creativity in finding money also helps with projects, including a new solar-power system being installed at the airport's business terminal.
The cost is about $260,000, but the price the city pays is being reduced by an $84,000 California Energy Commission rebate to promote solar power.
Shiny black panels of photovoltaic cells, which will convert the sun's rays into about 30 kilowatts of electricity, form an awning on the south face of the building.
Steel supports nearby await the installation of more panels that will shade a row of parking spaces along the fence separating the parking lot from the tarmac.
Cifuentez said the panels, which will be activated in early to mid-December, will generate about 60% of the electricity used in the business terminal, three rows of hangars and parking lot lights and, over the long haul, pay for itself through a reduced power bill. The reporter can be reached at
tsheehan@fresnobee.com or(559) 622-2410.
