BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Airport Manager Maria Searcy said a multi-million-dollar project to add industrial tenants to the airport is now undergoing an environmental assessment required by the FAA.
Searcy told the Keystone Heights Rotary Club that the 400-acre development, known as the airport’s westside project, is funded by a $1.4 million infrastructure grant obtained by Bradford County.
-She added that the airport is now seeking an additional $2 million to fund an access road from State Road 100 to the development, a connector road from the new street to Airport Road, and upgrades to State Road 100 near the new project.
Misconceptions
Searcy said her appearance at the Rotary Club was inspired partly by what she sees as misconceptions about the airport in the Lake Region.
She said one recent encounter with a Keystone Heights taxpayer revealed that some believe the city subsidizes the operations at the airport and that the facility is located in Bradford County.
She added that both of those beliefs are wrong. The airport straddles the Bradford-Clay County line and receives no financial support from the City of Keystone Heights.
Searcy said the federal government gave the facility to the city following the end of World War I.
A seven-member board manages the business affairs of the airport. The 2,400-acre site receives all its revenues from hangar rentals and fuel sales. Most of its capital improvement projects are funded by the Federal Aviation Authority or the Florida Department of Transportation.
“We receive no money from Bradford County, Clay County or the city,” she said, “so the residents of Keystone do not pay a dime for anything out at that airport.”
Runway expansion
Searcy said officials had discussed the possibility of expanding one of the facility’s runways, adding that Camp Blanding officials have said a longer runway would make it possible for more aircraft to land near the joint training center. However, the FAA has so far refused to fund such a project.
She said that some larger aircraft, like the Orion P-3 and the C-130 can now use the airport’s longer runway.
Searcy also said that a runway expansion project would take the airport’s primary landing strip out of commission while construction was underway, risking the loss of the facility’s most significant tenant and fuel purchaser: MHD Rockland.
Fuel sales
Searcy said the airport tries to maintain some of the lowest aviation fuel prices in the state, citing many student pilots using the airfield.
She added that fuel sales are, and activity at the airport is down due to rising fuel costs.
“A year ago, I think we were selling fuel for around three dollars a gallon, and we’re selling it now for $6.50 a gallon,” she said. “I mean, it has really hurt us.”
Hangar rentals
Searcy said inflation is not the only economic trend affecting the airport, adding that the influx of residents into the Sunshine State has more than quadrupled the number of pilots waiting to rent a hangar in Keystone.
“Since I started, we would typically have maybe 10 or 15 people on the waitlist,” she said, adding that she started working at the airport 12 years ago. “This past year, with everybody moving into the State of Florida wanting to bring their airplanes with them, we shot up to over 75 people on our waitlist, which is huge for us.”
She added that other area airports, like St. Augustine, Gainesville, Flagler County and Palatka saw similar increases in their hangar waitlists.
Searcy said some of the airport’s current hangar tenants live as far away as Jacksonville or Ocala, but the closest hangar they can acquire for their planes is in Keystone Heights.
Outlook
Searcy said the airport’s Bradford County project is now the facility’s largest and expects that over the next five years; other employers will follow MHD Rockland to the airport, providing Lake Region residents with high-paying jobs.
She added that of the 2,400 acres within the city-owned facility, only 640 acres are used for airport operations, leaving plenty of acreage for other uses.
Searcy predicted that the Keystone Heights Airport will significantly contribute to the Lake Region’s economy.
