(Bemidji) County Board to sponsor airport grant request (excerpt of newspaper article)
Dan Hoehn
By Brad Swenson
07/16/2008
Bringing high-wage aviation-related jobs to Bemidji will put the city
on the map for that sort of development, Beltrami County commissioners
said Tuesday as they approved a request to seek state funds.
Commissioners agreed to sponsor the Bemidji Regional Airport’s request
for $250,000 from a state Department of Employment and Economic
Development fund for airport infrastructure improvements.
“There are six or seven buildable lots (at the airport) and at this
time four businesses are interested,” Dave Hengel, Headwaters Regional
Development Commission director of community stewardship development
“They would bring 150 good-paying jobs.”
Bringing infrastructure such as sewer, water and roads to a 40-acre
tract on the Bemidji Regional Airport property will cost $578,300,
Hengel said. The airport already has a $328,300 federal Housing and
Urban Development grant, leaving the $250,000 gap that it is hoped the
state funds will fill.
The tract is part of the West JOBZ Area Industrial/Technology Park,
part of the state’s Jobs Opportunity Building Zone program that gives
tax breaks for expanding or relocating businesses. Economic
developers want to put aviation-related businesses in that zone,
according to the grant request. One of the four which officials are
working with is Northern Pines Aeronautics, formerly organized as
Dream Catcher Aviation. The firm refurbishes high-end private and
government aircraft and is hoping to secure a contract to work with
U.S. Navy P-3 Orion aircraft, which would need 120 full-time
employees.,
“Two years ago, you as a County Board discussed what can the county do
in economic development,” Hengel said. “This is an extension of that
commitment you made.” “This is a project we have been working on for
the last three or four years,” said Commissioner Ron Otterstad, one of
two county commissioners who serve on the Airport Commission. “The
Airport Commission has been studying ways to leverage outside funds
for infrastructure improvements,” he said. “Great job putting this
together.”
He cited efforts of two in the audience — Airport Manager Harold Van
Leeuwen and Joint Economic Development Commission Director Larry
Young. “I’ve always felt the airport simply is the strongest economic
development driver that the county has a connection to,” said County
Commissioner Jim Heltzer. “If we get any of these businesses, it would
be a great success. The jobs bring better salaries and better
benefits.”
He cited the grant application’s description of the local economy and
said developing the higher-wage aviation industry jobs “would be a
good beginning.” “Coinciding with … high unemployment rates are high
poverty rates,’” the grant application notes. “Historically, Beltrami
County has been among the worst poverty areas of the state, and has
had incomes falling well below the state and national averages. In
2004, Beltrami County had a poverty rate of 17.6 percent, which was
more than double the state of Minnesota.”
“This is an exciting chapter in the growth of our airport,” said
Commissioner Jack Frost, noting that Bemidji Regional Airport is tied
with St. Cloud as the fourth-busiest airport in the state. “It is an
indicator that Bemidji really is a regional center. We are putting
Bemidji on the map.”
The airport is jointly managed by the county and the city of Bemidji,
Commissioner Joe Vene noted. “This joint project between the city and
the county is a good partnership,” he said. “It is indicative of other
joint projects the two could enter into.”
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