The process to create a Master Plan for the Hollister Municipal
Airport continued on Tuesday afternoon, as officials met to discuss
the latest stage of the document that will guide future development
at the airfield.
Coffman and Associates, a Phoenix-based airport consultant firm,
was hired in 2001 to direct the city’s drafting of the Airport
Master Plan.
The process to create a Master Plan for the Hollister Municipal Airport continued on Tuesday afternoon, as officials met to discuss the latest stage of the document that will guide future development at the airfield.
Coffman and Associates, a Phoenix-based airport consultant firm, was hired in 2001 to direct the city’s drafting of the Airport Master Plan.
Two representatives from Coffman and Associates were joined at the meeting by a roundtable of 10 local officials, which included city engineers, hangar owners, former Airport Manager Allen Ritter and a representative from the California Department of Forestry.
The final Master Plan document, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, is being designed as a guide for development during the next 20 years, according to Chris Huguninan, a senior planner from the firm who made the presentation.
The group talked about several alternatives designed by the consulting firm, such as possibilities for moving runways and having more business jet use.
They also discussed a need for industrial development expansion at the airport, along with the potential for aviation-related businesses.
“We should try to catch as much aviation-oriented potential as we can,” said Ken Lindsay, owner of Sierra Pacific Associates and developer of four industrial parks near the Hollister Municipal Airport.
Lindsay’s parks include the Hollister Business Park, Northpoint Business Center, Citation Park and Airpark Business Center.
The document, according to Huguninan, is not definite blueprints for the airport.
“It’s just a guide to the future use of the airport,” he said.
The process of drafting the Master Plan consists of three phases. Phase I was the focus of discussion at the first advisory meeting in April, and the second phase – Airport Development Alternatives – was the purpose of Tuesday’s discussion.
“I think we had some really good input on future development,” Huguninan said.
Over the next couple weeks, the firm will analyze written comments from those in attendance at the meeting and begin to “hone in on a final concept,” according to Coffman and Associates Project Manager Jim Harris. They will also receive input from the Federal Aviation Administration and Caltrans.
