Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.
The Boulder City Airport is about to get a little busier.
The city is developing plans for expanding the airport to accommodate more planes, attract aviation-related business on the grounds and spur companies to relocate to the community.
The 530-acre airport developed in 1988 had its newest tenant, Papillion Grand Canyon Helicopters, launch its Boulder City service on Monday with three helicopters handling four tour flights a day.
The company plans 12 flights a day from Boulder City within the next month to supplement its 15-helicopter hub at McCarran International Airport, where such tour companies will be phased out.
Boulder City is launching an environmental review at a cost of up to $100,000 that will be covered by a $350,000 federal grant, said Brok Armantrout, the city's community development director.
The yearlong study, which will look at whether Indian artifacts and endangered species could be affected by the airport expansion, is the first step before the city can apply for $1 million to $2 million in federal grants for the expansion a year from now.
The City Council is to review the airport plans in the next two months. Grading work and utility extensions where there is already development may start this summer.
Boulder City will compete against other cities for the grant that will be used to construct 120 hangars for storing planes on the crowded field. The city is also considering leasing space for developers to build hangars.
Today, the airport has about 100 hangars for planes in addition to two large maintenance hangars and a terminal building it leases. The city's plan allows companies to build their own hangars and other facilities on leased airport grounds. There are even plans for a restaurant.
"We hope this helps create jobs," Armantrout said. "We have people who fly in to play golf, and we have several businesses who have regular clients that fly in to visit their offices. This may spur a company to relocate to Boulder City because of the convenience of the airport."
Boulder City handles about 33,000 takeoffs and landings a year. There are 112 single-engine and twin-engine aircraft based at the airport in addition to one corporate jet.
The airport is not only popular with Boulder City residents but other aviators who are reluctant to fly out of the North Las Vegas, Henderson and McCarran airports because of the congestion and longer waits at those airports, officials said.
Boulder City has requests from 100 pilots wanting hangar space and another 50 people who want outdoor space to tie down their planes, officials said.
"There are people thinking of moving here who want hangar space," said airport director Mike Minshell. "They are from Southern California, New Mexico and Oregon. People like Boulder City because it is so small and there is a lot to do here with recreation."
Boulder City resident Robert Merrell said he's delayed buying a single-engine Cessna until he has a hangar to keep it out of the elements. For now, he rents a plane and uses one from a friend.
He said pilots like the convenience of flying out of Boulder City because they don't face the same restrictions as in other airports.
"I think it's attractive that you don't have to face the Las Vegas air space restrictions," Merrell said. "You can take off and land without contacting the regional air traffic control. Anytime you go out of Las Vegas or a large city, they tell you where to fly, and it takes longer to get where you are going."
Boulder City has two runways, one that's 4,800 feet long and another that measures 3,800 feet. The city's master plan calls for extending the largest runway by 1,000 feet in the next five to 10 years to improve safety of takeoffs and landings.
In addition to Papillion, the airport is home to Skydive Las Vegas, which offers parachute jumping, and helicopter tour operator and maintenance company Air Excel. Mercy Air provides air ambulance service out of Boulder City, and there are smaller companies that provide maintenance and flight instruction.
City officials hope to attract paint shops, maintenance shops and other aviation firms to the airport. Several companies have expressed interest in the city's airport, Minshell said.
One of them is Honest Air, an aircraft maintenance shop at McCarran, where airport officials are trying to push out general aviation business for the sake of commercial traffic, said the company's owner Dean Benedict. He said he's been unable so far to secure space at Henderson Executive Airport and is pursuing a Boulder City location as well.
Benedict said he prefers Henderson because of its proximity to McCarran, but he said Boulder City would be a good location as well.
Pilots of planes he repairs sometimes wait as long as an hour to get clearance to take off from McCarran. They could fly out of Boulder City without delay, he said.
Benedict said he's excited about the proposed plans for Boulder City, but said such expansion may not be liked by some long-time general aviation enthusiasts at the airport. He said his company repairs corporate jets and 12-passenger turboprop planes that would make for a busier airport in a community that prides itself on slow growth.
"It has been a sleepy airport for so many years, and they think someone will come in there and turn it into Los Angeles International," Benedict said.
Brenda Halvarson, the president of Papillion Grand Canyon Helicopters, said the company purchased the airport offices of tour operator Lake Mead Air because of the uncertain future at McCarran International Airport.
McCarran, which has had complaints about noise, is moving helicopters off the airport at some future date, but no regional heliport has been developed where Papillion can relocate.
"We are trying to see how business goes," Halvarson said of the operations in Boulder City. "It is kind of a test market, but we are expecting business to go well."
Papillion, which won a bid to build a terminal at the Boulder City Airport, plans to construct a 15,000-square-foot facility that will serve the company and provide office space and a community conference room for the airport.
She said the distance to Boulder City isn't a problem because the company uses vans to get patrons to the site. The airport's openness and proximity to the Grand Canyon, which cuts down on fuel expenses, make it attractive to her company, she said.
"When you fly south of town, there are no people and less disturbances," Halvarson said. "I think Boulder City sees their airport growing in the future, and we think that would be a wonderful place to be a part of that."
The airport pays for itself with $200,000 a year in land leases and fuel sales. The city hopes to generate another $150,000 from hangar leases and additional revenue when it takes over the fuel depot at the airport in July. The extra revenue from the development and fuel sales will go to a reserve fund to pay for special projects, Armantrout said.
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