Published: May 14, 2008 12:35 pm            

County updates airport lease agreement, sets new rates

By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Cherokee County updated its airport hanger lease agreement Monday for the first time in decades. The county commissioners voted unanimously to update the document; approving three main changes to how the Cherokee County Airport handles the leasing of its hangers.

Perhaps the largest change in the agreement was the establishment of a graduated rate schedule for hanger lessees based on the size of the hanger and the length of the lease.

“Looking back I couldn’t really tell how lease rates were determined in the past, so I wanted to come up with way to set the rates for everyone in the future,” said Airport Coordinator Cliff Goff. “Any new leases will use the new rate schedule. The current rates on existing leases will remain until those contracts end, but if they want to renew the lease they will have to abide by the year lease rate.”

Hanger rates will now be 10 cents per square-foot, per year, for the first five years. Years six through 10 will increase to 11 cents per square-foot, years 11 through 15 will cost 12 cents per square-foot and years 16 and on will cost 13 cents per square-foot.

Goff said the new rates will bring Cherokee County Airport up to the state average.

A second change in the agreement sets minimum design standards for anyone planning to build additional hangers on the airport property. Goff said no such guidelines or requirements had previously existed regarding the construction of hangers or other buildings at the airport.

There are currently 16 T-hangers and about 30 individual hangers at the airport, which tend to fill up very quickly, Goff said. The airport does have space available for additional hangers, and the county is looking towards future development of the land.

The third change to the lease agreement defined the hangers as exclusively for aircraft.

“In the past, people have stored items other than airplanes in their hanger. Some of them didn’t even own airplanes, so they were basically just using them for storage, and we want to try to get away from that,” he said. “From now on, the owner of the hanger needs to have an airplane in it — whether it’s their airplane or someone else’s. We have such a need for hanger space, that we hate to have empty hangers out there not being used for what they are intended for.”

Goff said that with the new provisions to the lease agree, he doesn’t expect the document to need to be updated again for “a good while.”

In other business the court approved:

• the laying of utility lines on County Roads 3706, 4712 and 4905;

• a proclamation declaring May as Elder Abuse Prevention Month;

• a bid of $32,500 submitted by Calco, Inc. to purchase Precinct 2’s used pulverize mixer;

• the monthly report from James Campbell, sheriff;

• the monthly report from Ricky Moore, license and weight officer;

• the monthly report from L.H. Crockett, county auditor;

• the monthly report from Lynn Kelley, constable of Precinct 1;

• the monthly report from Eddie Lee, constable of Precinct 3;

• the minutes from previous meetings; and

• paying the bills.

The Cherokee County Commissioner’s Court regularly meets at 10 a.m. the second and fourth Monday of each month, at the county courthouse. The public is invited to attend all meetings.

        

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