CDOT will fund airport study for Wellington

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

The Colorado Aeronautical Board in late October agreed to help finance a feasibility study and business plan for an airport in Wellington.

Approval came on a positive recommendation from the Aeronautics Division of the Colorado Department of Transportation. CDOT will pay the bulk of the study costs, while the town of Wellington and the Northern Colorado Pilots Association have each agreed to chip in $5,000.

CDOT's senior aviation planner, Chris Pomeroy, said the study will look at whether a new airport in Wellington is justifiable in a 20-year time frame. The study comes as the public-use airport in downtown Fort Collins is closing. With the closure, the Colorado Airport System has 76 public-use airports, Pomeroy said.

Town government's interest in the airport is critical to the study, Pomeroy said, because CDOT prefers to work with a government sponsor. "There's more risk involved if we invest in a private airport," he said.

With study funding in hand, CDOT will help the town develop a request for proposals, Pomeroy said. That step could take four to six weeks, he said, and it could take six to nine months to complete the study and business plan. Community meetings to collect public opinion will be part of the study.

If the result is favorable, the town would likely have to put together local, private and state funding to build a small general aviation airport, Pomeroy said. "Completing the plan does not commit state dollars to build a new airport," he cautioned.

State funding for public-use airports comes from the aviation fuel tax. The aviation division just awarded $4.4 million in grants this year.