By Tia Lyons
Staff Writer
EL DORADO — With a revised design concept, the El Dorado Airport Commission is now armed with more information to champion a rehabilitation project for the terminal building at South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field.
During an airport commission meeting last week, Blake Dunn, of CADM Architecture, Inc., and a commission subcommittee that is focusing on the terminal renovation, walked commissioners through ideas for a new conceptual design that includes two options and preliminary budgets.
Commissioners are also researching funding sources to find money to cover the cost of the rehab project.
After considerable discussion last week, commissioners agreed, with feedback from Mayor Frank Hash, that if the city could not secure the necessary funding to pay for the entire rehab project, efforts would be made proceed with much needed repairs to the roof of the building.
Attending his first meeting as a member of the airport commission, Commissioner Aubra Anthony thanked Dunn and the committee for providing information.
“We’ve got to be able to sell this. It’s a matter of understanding it well enough so that we can explain to people how the dots are connected,” Anthony said.
The knowledge will also help, he said, in pursuing funding from a mix of public and private sources. Anthony asked Dunn to put together a list of talking points to present as part of the process.
Commissioner Craig Smart, a member of the terminal rehabilitation committee, previously told commissioners that a recent walk-through shed some light on potential updates for a comprehensive improvement plan that was drafted by CADM Architecture, Inc. in 2015.
The committee subsequently worked with Dunn on the revisions, and Smart said last week that the revisions focused more on the fixed base operations of the airport and space for staff, pilots and other “general aviation folks.”
Smart said the committee agreed on a conceptual design for the first floor, but the second-floor space “has given us some hang-ups.”
Dunn said the proposed work was always intended to upgrade the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and an internal facelift.
In 2015, the preliminary costs were $1.9 million. Today, the preliminary budget estimate is $2.1 million.
“That’s normal cost escalation and general construction costs,” Dunn explained.
With the modifications on the first floor, the existing long, singular ticket counter would be replaced with two smaller circular counters to serve different functions — airline operations and the car rental business.
The area east of the counters would be converted into a meeting/conference room.
The airport’s fixed base operation and pilots’ lounge would make up the west side of the ground floor, with the pilots’ lounge containing a kitchen, flight planning room, shower, water closet, lavatory, etc.
Dunn said that placing the fixed base operation’s point-of-sale functions and storage area near the west entrance would give airport staff a better vantage point of the comings-and-goings of the terminal.
The door to the lobby would also be locked and the fixed base,operation secured at night, while the west entrance and access would remain open to the pilots’ lounge.
Also anchoring the west side of the terminal would be a sitting/waiting area for pilots and other general aviation enthusiasts “who want to be part of the hustle and bustle” of the airport, Dunn said.
A gallery displaying the history of El Dorado and aviation in the area would also make up the waiting area.
Commissioner Gary Harrell noted that the meeting/conference rooms upstairs are seldom used and have been mostly used in recent years by politicians making brief stops in town.
Dunn said plenty of ideas have been bandied about for the possible uses of the upstairs space in the terminal.
Harrell said a meeting room on the first floor would be more convenient for those who are flying in for business meetings at the airport, rather than having to climb the stairs to the exiting second-floor conference rooms.
Dunn said there has been talk of converting the outdoor space into a patio or observational deck to complement the interior space and make them available to rent out for parties and other events.
Airport manager Tim Johnson said he has received several requests to rent out the airport’s corporate hangar for parties since it opened in April 2016.
A festive fundraising event was held in the hangar before it opened for business, and Johnson said it’s difficult to rent out the space for such functions now because it’s occupied with planes.
Another option, Dunn said, is to use the space for quiet/sleeping rooms for pilots.
Dunn presented commissioners with another preliminary budget of $2.3 million that would include work to the second floor of the terminal.
Over the past several months, commissioners have talked about the leaky, deteriorating roof of the terminal building, and Hash issued a reminder last week that the roof is not likely to last another winter.
Commissioners agreed that if they are unable to secure funding for the rehab project over the next couple of months, they would address the roof by July, noting there will still be enough time left for construction before winter sets in.
“The first rule of restoration is to stop the damage,” Dunn said.
He recommended a full replacement of the roof.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.