Everglades City residents and general aviation pilots March 11 urged the Collier County Commission to keep Everglades Airpark open.

The commissioners have not decided to close the airport, however, they agreed to ask the Federal Aviation Administration and Florida Department of Transportation what steps need to be taken to deactivate the tiny airport that abuts Everglades National Park.

In response to citizen comments, the commission also agreed to form a committee to study potential utilizations that could save the airport. Everglades City sits on Chokoloskee Bay, which makes it susceptible to storm surge.

Collier County Airpark Authority operates Marco Island Executive Airport, Immokalee Regional Airport and Everglades. Of the three, Everglades is the only one that consistently operates at a loss, according to county staff.

The following factors will ensure the airpark will suffer continued financial losses:

• The FAA has designated Everglades Airpark “unclassified,” which means it does not receive any guaranteed annual funding from the FAA or FDOT. County staff states without that funding, “it becomes quite burdensome to fund any significant capital improvements.”
• The 2,400-foot runway cannot be extended without filling in wetlands; the short runway limits the size and number of aircraft that can be accommodated and thus, how much fuel can be sold at the site.
• Hurricanes keep damaging the eight-bay hangar at the airpark; unresolved Ian damage is still at $1.2 million. The runway has been under several feet of seawater at least three times in the past year. Portions of the self-fueling facility also have been underwater, rendering it unreliable.
• The airpark averages fewer than 10 flights a day and has just three seasonally based aircraft on tiedown agreements. The hangar is unoccupied.

The airpark does have six FAA airport improvement grants that have obligations for 20 years, so the county would have to determine if it had any financial obligations with the FAA.

“Any grant repayment could be funded by proceeds from the sale of the assets at Everglades Airpark, including the fee simple sale of the land,” the commission stated in the executive summary of the issue.

Though Everglades Airpark was on the consent agenda, Everglades City residents, pilots and others signed up to speak about the airpark’s future. That led the commissioners to open the item for discussion.

Stacey Heaton, regional manager for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, told commissioners that members of AOPA “oppose any efforts to study the closure of Everglades Airpark.”

She said small airports are vital to getting emergency supplies when disasters hit remote areas like Chokoloskee.

“During the last hurricane season, when North Carolina was inundated with flooding and landslides, which knocked out the roads, the only way to get water and supplies was through general aviation airports,” Heaton told commissioners. “The recent California wildfires were mitigated through the use of community airports and would have been significantly worse if those airports were not there to support fire missions and evacuations.”

Everglades City resident Harry Hinkle said the airport is vital to the town’s economy.

“Every piece of it matters to our economy,” he said. “You take this airport from that community, and you are kind of driving a little nail into it. We’re the last of the old Florida towns, one of the few left.”

He rejected suggestions by commissioners that the waterfront land upon which the airport sits could be developed.

“Pull the airport out, start considering what to do with the land,” Hinkle said. “Bill McDaniel kept repeating to me that it’s a valuable piece of land. That’s not the way to look at the airport.

“It’s a valuable asset to the community as it is. The will of that town is to keep this airport alive.”

Stuart Grant said he occasionally flies into Everglades Airpark to eat in the town’s restaurants.

He considers the airpark an economic engine for local businesses.

“With the airport open, people can fly in from all over to fish with many of the local guides, tour Everglades National Park, stay at nearby hotels and eat at local restaurants,” Grant told the commissioners. “No matter what, I urge you to keep the airport open and make the relatively modest repairs and improvements necessary to make it self-sustaining in the long run. If he airport is gone, it will be gone forever.”

The commissioners voted to proceed with the study “inclusive of the discussion with the FAA and the creation of the ad hoc committee for potential utilizations for the airport facility.”