ZELIENOPLE — Expansion continues for the Zelienople Municipal Airport.

The airport plans to expand its services and facilities within the next few years, including extending its runway, eliminating a curve on Route 288 and attracting companies to use the airport.

“One of the big changes has been in the attitude in the way we’re approaching the airport,” Russ Robertson, board member for the Zelienople Airport Authority said. “We have a lot of capitalization out there.”

The airport for the past five years has undergone numerous changes, including demolishing its old hangars, building about three dozen new hangars of different sizes and having more jet services.

The hangars are owned by private investors, meaning the airport operates debt-free and it does not operate using taxpayers’ money.

Longer runway for jets

The land north of the airport will be used for the runway extension, which will increase the runway’s length from 4,933 feet to 5,565 feet. The runway also will be widened from 75 feet to 100 feet per guidelines from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airport will continue to support small-plane services, but will increase its emphasis on jet operations.

“That’s aviation in general, not just this airport,” airport manager Dave Holman said of the trend. “Commercial transport airplanes primarily are jets.”

The increase in the runway’s distance will help with jets landing in the airport.

The airport owns more than 400 acres inside and outside of its gates, including recent purchases from the state Fish and Boat Commission. Glide slopes, navigational aids, taxi areas and the runway will be expanded.

Holman said work on the runway is planned for 2018.

Developing wetlands

The 32-plus acres owned by the Fish and Boat Commission south of Route 288 and Lake Road is being purchased for $129,440, said Mark Mitchell, chief of the commission’s property services section.

“Everything we utilized was north of that,” Mitchell said of the land. “To lose the property below the highway was not going to affect anything we were going to do with it.”

Mitchell said the commission and the airport have been talking about the property sale for the last two to three years.

Airport officials said the expansion will not affect nearby Hereford Manor Lake, which was drained in 2012 to relieve the ailing dams. Efforts are being made to refill the lake.

“There are rumors going around that the airport is interfering with saving the lake,” Holman said. “We don’t have anything to do with that and it doesn’t interfere with us.”

The airport has also partnered with the Beaver County Conservation District to put in a wetland mitigation area west of the airport, south of Route 288. The district plans to have an education center and trails installed in the wetland area, a safe distance from the airport runway.

“We have to displace some of the old strip mine waterways,” Holman said.

He said work on the wetland area could start as soon as this fall, pending approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“It’s a win-win project for everyone,” Holman said. “The by-product of that is we’re cleaning a lot of strip mining mess.”

Dirt taken from construction may not be able to be dumped into the area because of wetlands. About 128,000 cubic yards of dirt will be moved from the area.

Straightening 288

Robertson and Holman also said the airport authority would like to work with the state Department of Transportation to eliminate an S-shaped curve on Route 288 that is “dangerous” and “an obstruction to air traffic.”

The curve also has varied elevations, including a hillside which will be eliminated with the plan.

The road is planned to be straightened and lowered in elevation.

PennDOT officials were unavailable for comment.

Work on the road and hillside means planes coming in can land on the southern end during nighttime. The runway has been closed to planes traveling south for about four years now due to the hillside on Route 288 being considered an obstruction to aviation.

Funding and support

Costs for the project were not available, although Robertson estimated it to be “in the millions.” He said this is because of the private financing system the airport uses.

“We don’t have any access to the books,” Robertson said. “That’s one of the downsides of private capitalization, is that we don’t know how much is going into it.”

Holman said the wetlands portion of the project is in the $3 million range.

Robertson also said the airport authority will invoke procedures established by the Pennsylvania Act 89 Intermodal Funding Plan to help fund the project.

Informational meetings will take place this summer.

The airport’s growth could prove beneficial to surrounding areas, including Cranberry, Jackson and Franklin Townships with job growth and potential new housing.