Airport officials have reached an agreement on a new 30-year
lease proposal with Calfire that council members are set to
consider April 6. The draft calls for a 30-year term with annual
rent of $79,856. The rent figure would be changed every five years
to correlate with the CPI, but the lease draft caps the increase at
15 percent for each adjustment period, according to the
proposal.
HOLLISTER
Airport officials have reached an agreement on a new 30-year lease proposal with Calfire that council members are set to consider April 6.
Getting a new lease for the state agency and keeping its operation here has been debated over and negotiated for years. Airport advisory commissioners discussed it Wednesday and moved the proposal on to the council, but did note a few concerns about the document.
Those issues were a Consumer Price Index adjustment cap, permitting landing access if needed for much larger federal aircraft and there being no required construction time frame attached to the deal for a new air-attack base – which triggers the new lease’s implementation.
Chambless spoke about the proposed agreement along with other airport matters at a Free Lance Editorial Board meeting today. He said a new lease would “solve a lot of ambiguities” in the relationship between the city and Calfire.
The draft calls for a 30-year term with annual rent of $79,856. The rent figure would be changed every five years to correlate with the CPI, but the lease draft caps the increase at 15 percent for each adjustment period, according to the proposal.
The document also provides an option for Calfire to extend the lease term by 10 years.
Under the deal, the state has the right to occupy the current facility under the “old” lease’s terms until two things happen: Calfire finishes construction of a new air-attack base on an 8.7-acre parcel there and the city completes certain improvements to runway cracks and striping issues.
Calfire has had some type of presence at the Hollister airport since 1962, according to the lease proposal. The agreement to lease land there for the air-attack base started in 1988 and has been ammended twice since then.
Look for an expanded version of this story in Tuesday’s Free Lance.
