A 25-year blueprint for the Hollister Municipal Airport projects
runways conducive to more business jets, use of revolutionary
technology and ultimately higher revenues for the city’s
coffers.
Officials and a private consultant are
”
tweaking
”
a final draft of the Airport Master Plan, which should be
finished within 1 1/2 months before going through a six-month
environmental review, according to Gordon Machado, chairman of the
city’s Airport Advisory Commission.
A 25-year blueprint for the Hollister Municipal Airport projects runways conducive to more business jets, use of revolutionary technology and ultimately higher revenues for the city’s coffers.
Officials and a private consultant are “tweaking” a final draft of the Airport Master Plan, which should be finished within 1 1/2 months before going through a six-month environmental review, according to Gordon Machado, chairman of the city’s Airport Advisory Commission.
Once it is finished, officials believe the update will immediately put Hollister in a prime position for obtaining federal grants. The city obtained more than $1 million in grants for the airport in both 2000 and 2001 from the federal government, according to the draft.
Hollister has not revised the master plan since 1986, while such documents have become essential tools for cities wishing to obtain funding for airport improvements, Machado said.
“It gives you a leg up on the industry to compete with the grant program,” Machado said.
He was among many residents and officials who spent several hours Tuesday discussing the master plan with the private consultant – Coffman and Associates, a Phoenix-based firm. A representative from the firm then reviewed the draft that evening with the City Council.
The update has been in the works for more than a year.
“I think right now the airport is a diamond in the rough,” said Councilman Robert Scattini, also the Council’s liaison for the airport and previously a commissioner for 19 years.
Scattini mentioned two projected changes that particularly stand out: Accommodating more business jets and planned navigation technology that would allow aircraft to land despite bad weather.
That equipment officials hope to obtain is called an Instrument Landing System, which uses radio technology to guide pilots to the ground.
But it’s not just the airport itself the master plan addresses. The vicinity of the airport, several hundred acres of open space, has been primed for further industrial and commercial development. And the airport could be used to lure prospective businesses in need of airport access, officials believe.
Developers Ken Lindsay and Hugh Bikle have been active in the master plan process. Lindsay owns or has a stake in several industrial business parks out there, and Bikle has been working on plans for a 2-million square-foot business park.
Plus, another plan has been proposed to build a hangar – larger than any at the airport – to primarily accommodate corporate jets. That could also mean a much-needed boost in property taxes for the city.
“The main thing is, strengthening the runway for these business jets,” Scattini said.
The Hollister Municipal Airport started as a private grass strip in 1912. The city took over the property in 1947. It has since grown to include more than 80 hangars, or landing zones.
To view a copy of the Airport Master Plan, go to Hollister City Hall, 375 Fifth St.
