As the saying goes, "the answer is always no unless you ask."
The Newark-Heath Airport in Licking County, east of Columbus, put that to the test and came away with $2.385 million in Federal Aviation Administration grant funding for major upgrades announced earlier this month.
"We filled out a grant, sent it to them, and didn't know if anything would happen, figured it wouldn't," recalled Terry Treneff, president of the Licking County Regional Airport Authority board of trustees. "But they said OK."
As part of the same funding opportunity, Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport came away with no money because it never applied, leading to resounding criticism of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. In all, $1 billion was distributed July 7 to 85 airports nationwide, but Toledo Express did not try to obtain any of it.
Newark, about 35 miles east of Columbus, is known to many in Toledo — from executives to frontline workers — through its Owens Corning manufacturing plant and other nearby facilities owned by the Toledo-based industrial giant. In recent months, the Newark area and Licking County have remained in the national spotlight through the announcement that Intel Corp.'s plans to invest $20 billion in two semiconductor chip manufacturing plants in that region.
The project at Newark-Heath Airport will bring the construction of a new terminal building to comply with accessibility requirements and provide enhanced energy efficiency by replacing the outdated HVAC system, which will reduce overall energy consumption at the airport, the FFA said in its announcement.
Mr. Treneff of the Licking County Airport Authority spoke of the action by Newark-Heath Airport officials when they learned that federal funds were available to help the airport make improvements.
"Our engineers we're using for the work said there's a chance you can get some help with the costs on it. That money was available in the bipartisan infrastructure law," Mr. Treneff said. "There was money available for airports across the country."
In seeking the federal funds, Mr. Treneff said officials did not expect to receive the money.
"We assumed we wouldn't," he said. "But it turns out we came through."
Millions sought elsewhere
Unlike Toledo Express, Akron-Canton Airport did apply, hoping to secure about an estimated $9.5 million. Though it was shut out of this round of funding, Akron-Canton Airport President and Chief Executive Officer Renato "Ren" Camacho spoke of the effort that the airport had put in trying to secure the money.
"We applied for terminal-related projects," he said. "We had projects such as maintenance, upgrades of our escalators, elevators, electric vehicle charging stations that we felt was a good project on the sustainability front."
Some of the recent upgrades at the airport, Mr. Camacho said, had already been carried out at Akron-Canton Airport before the federal funding opportunity became available.
"We just completed a gate expansion project," he said. "Had we had the need five years ago, and this program came out five years ago, we probably would have been a good potential applicant for a project."
Outdated Toledo master plan
In explaining why Toledo Express did not apply for funds, officials said it had no projects far enough along in development for which it could apply for one of this year’s grants. It also said that its master plan dates back to 2008.
Not speaking of Toledo Express, in particular, Mr. Camacho described that as too long.
"The rule of thumb is every seven to 10 years," he said. "Generally, every 10 years you should be providing an update to where your airport is today. It also includes any environmental considerations, aviation forecast, what the airlines plan to do as far as we best know."
"If you're in that seven-to-10-year window, and you're consistently talking to your [FAA] regional airport district office, the chances of getting funding are very high," Mr. Camacho said.
The master plan covers what amounts to a "10-to-15-year outlook for what aviation is doing in your particular geographic region, any major development in your community," Mr. Camacho said. "We have the Pro Football Hall of Fame here, for example. They are building a village. If that sparks major folks coming in and out due to that attraction, then we may need to revisit redoing our master plan sooner rather than later."
Mr. Camacho was asked whether it's critical for an airport to have an updated master plan to be a good candidate for federal grants.
"It depends where the airport is in the grand scheme of things," he said. "If the airport has not updated their master plan in 20 years, that's likely to be more of an issue than a more recent update."
As part of a contract awarded in October, RS&H, a national aviation facilities consultant, is to update the master plan for Toledo Express Airport — a task last done 14 years ago.
The port authority was asked when the master plan portion of the latest effort was expected to be completed. It instead provided a “detailed” timeline of events that extends into the latter half of 2023.
"There are many elements in the update to the master plan, Joe Cappel, the port authority’s vice president for business development, said via email.
Lisa Dalpiaz, vice president of marketing and air service development at Akron-Canton Airport, spoke of the importance of the updated master plan and related documents in seeking grants or outside funding sources.
"They take some time to create and implement," she said. "It's a really great reference point. Whether it's through the FAA or other supplemental grants, it is one we use quite often."
Reasons for master plan updates can include expanding a terminal or changing the signage on the main roadway, or changing the roadway configuration.
"If it is something akin to that, I think they have a much better chance for federal funding because they have been in concert and in touch with the local regional office with respect to those types of updates," Mr. Camacho said.
He described the Akron-Canton Airport's capital improvement plan as putting the airport in a position to act. "It's basically a list of projects, mainly on the airfield, that the airport and the FAA every November basically talk about," he said. "It's a pre-planning discussion about which of those projects make the most sense to move forward with. We have a wish list."
The list is traditionally a five-year plan but at Akron-Canton, it usually goes out to 10 years "to be on the safe side," Mr. Camacho said. "So the FAA sees some of those outlier projects on our mutual radar."
"The projects on that five-year window generally focus on improving and enhancing the safety of the airfield. It might be a terminal project or something that adds capacity and maybe improves the ability for airlines and airports to work together to ensure that the traveling public has that safe experience through the airport," he said.
Some projects may fall off.
"But the other ones that are primarily tied to safety, regulatory compliance, maybe some environmental responsibility are the ones that seem to rise to the top when you talk to the airport district office of the FAA," Mr. Camacho said.
Mr. Camacho provided an overview of what he saw among those airports that did receive funding. That included money for restrooms, rooms for nursing mothers, pet-relief areas, and gate expansions and new roofs. Akron-Canton Airport, he added, already has nursing mothers' rooms, pet-relief areas, and other amenities that would have made it a good candidate for the federal money.
Akron-Canton airport lists services by five airlines Allegiant, American, Breeze, Spirit, and United with 20 non-stop flights: Charleston, S.C., Charlotte, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, Ft. Myers, Punta Gorda, Fla., Hartford, Myrtle Beach, S.C., Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando, Orlando/Sanford, Fla., Palm Beach, Fla., Philadelphia, Sarasota/Bradenton, Fla., Savannah/Hilton Head International in Georgia, Tampa, St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., Washington, and Las Vegas.
In this round of funding, Akron-Canton Airport also put in a request for a new air traffic control tower but did not receive the federal funding.
"We also had common-use gates, which does make the airport more sustainable," Mr. Camacho said. "The common-use gates multiple airlines can use one gate at any given time. It increases our flexibility and adaptability to service our passengers and the airlines' passengers at any given time. But we were not chosen for that one, either."
Seeking the opportunity
In a Toledo connection to Newark-Heath Airport, Owens Corning executives from Toledo use it when traveling to visit their facilities in Licking County, airport manager Harold Ware said.
"They bring their planes in here with their executives who go out to a testing center there, which is over by Granville," he said of Owens Corning’s science and technology center just west of Newark.
"They also just built a big warehouse," Mr. Ware said of the new Owens Corning facility in Heath. "It's really huge, and it's right in sight of the airport, probably less than a quarter of a mile."
In Licking County, the airport also is known as Newark-Heath Airport Treneff Field in honor of Mr. Treneff, a longtime attorney in that community.
Similar to Akron-Canton Airport, when the federal grant opportunity came along, Newark-Heath was ready.
“We were committed to our project one way or the other, but our thought was that maybe this would help us,” Mr. Treneff said of taking the time to pursue the federal program.
In expressing her disappointment that Toledo Express did not pursue the money, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) said the airport grants and other available federal transportation funding represented a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernize the transportation infrastructure of our city and region."
Mr. Treneff said that Newark-Heath Airport securing the federal money serves as an example of the importance of seeking federal money when it's made available. "Most of it went to bigger airports that have towers and commercial movement," he said. "But we took a shot. I'd say if there's an opportunity, it's worth the time to fill out an application and take a strike at it and see what happens.
"We are involved in other grants and grants through the state annually, but they are usually for smaller projects," Mr. Treneff said. "This is a special deal that Congress allocated a bunch of money.”
First Published July 17, 2022, 11:30 a.m.
