Airport Authority gets federal grant

The Cherokee County Regional Airport Authority has received a grant of $215,175 to improve infrastructure at the Cherokee County Regional Airport, it was announced this week by the office of Senator Tom Harkin.

Kent Wenck, chairman of the airport authority, explained that the funds will be used to purchase two Quonset huts belonging to Lundell Construction and the demolition of those structures. An agreement for the purchase has already been made with Lundell Construction.

Wenck said the demolition was mandated by the Federal Aviation Authority because the Quonset huts are in the airport's Runway Protection Zone. If the huts were not removed, the runway would in effect be shortened 500 feet.

Wenck said that this would prevent the use of small corporate jets owned by a few of the large companies located in Cherokee County.

This grant was made available by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Aviation Authority has to come up with a match of 5 percent of the cost of the entire project.