b'GENERAL AVIATIONVTA63lobby, conference room, pilot lounge,and 5%, respectively). Final cost of the kitchen, FBO office, restrooms andterminal project was about $2.7 million.storage. Designers incorporate plaques and photos highlighting the history andAdded Environmentalgeography of Licking County. Challenges The new FBO maintenance hangar isDesigning and constructing the new 64 feet wide by 78 feet long and includesterminal over an environmental sparge a shop, restroom and storage space.system presented special challenges.It is located just 50 feet from the main Decades ago, an oil production facility terminal. located north of the airport leaked toxins One of the more unusual aspectsinto the underground water table. In the of this project involved relocating the1990s, the Environmental Protection airports existing steel maintenanceAgency identified and began tracking a building. Crews lifted the building off itssizable plume of benzene in the ground, foundation and used four radio-controlledand an underground oil remediation mobile jacks to move the building, andsparge system was installed to address then place it on a new foundation andit. The sparge includes a system of PVC slab about 300 yards away from thepipes buried at shallow (1 to 3 feet) and taxiway.deeper positions (10 to 11 feet), as well as monitoring wells and valve access We had to wait on moving this buildingpoints throughout the airports former until the new terminal building and theand current terminal areas. The system new maintenance hangar were finished,introduces high-pressure air beneath the so the FBO could continue to operate.contaminated soils and recaptures it in In the end, just moving the old buildingthe upper pipe network. This creates a This project had several [interrelated]instead of building a brand new oneremediating effect on the benzenes and moving pieces, Treneff remarks. Forsaved us a lot of money, Treneff explains.facilitates the collection of discharging example, we could not tear down theI had a bid of $1.1 million to build a newmethane gases for proper disposal. old maintenance building until the newhangar, but using this method the costThe approach is somewhat similar to maintenance building was up andwas only $190,000. the system of pipes that stick out of the running. Our FBO could not be movedNow in its new location, the oldground at landfill areas. until the new terminal building wasmaintenance hangar is used to store completed. When designing and constructing the tractors, trucks and mowers. new terminal and maintenance hangar The centerpiecefacilities, the project team avoided the of the entire planUnexpected Funding Source pipe system whenever possible and was building a newThe project at VTA was one of the firstrelocated elements when required. $2.7 million terminal.two in Ohio to receive funding throughObservation well points and valve access In our planningthe FAA Airport Terminal Program grants,points were considered key locations. meetings with airporta new funding source included in theDesigners also added a vacuum piping officials, we wantedInfrastructure Investment and Job Actsystem under the building to eliminate the to create a gatewayGREG HEATON (IIJA) passed in 2022. The $1.85 millionvapor odor. into our region thatawarded for this project, along with a would reflect its growing prosperity and$383,000 Airport Improvement Grant, was The porous nature of the soil at the importance, explains Greg Heaton, vicepivotal in helping the county upgrade VTA.building site was another challenge. president and Aviation Group managerThe ground would not provide sufficient for Crawford, Murphy & Tilly. We wantedOriginally, we expected to havesupport for the new terminals foundation a building that is much more upscaleto get a long-term loan to do thesesystem, so Crawford, Murphy & Tilly and distinctive than is found at a typicalimprovements, Treneff explains. Butevaluated several alternate solutions. general aviation airport. just as we were seeking financing, weUltimately, engineers designed rammed received the extra funding from theaggregate piers to support a traditional The new facility was built aboutAirport Terminal Program. This allowedbuilding foundation. The system uses 450 feet away from the old terminal,us to make all of the improvements in oursoil displacement to strengthen soft soils comfortably separated from activeoriginal plan without going into debt.through a method that prestrains and airfield areas. At nearly 4,300 squareIn the end, FAA covered about 75%prestresses it. Although such systems are feet, it is more than three times the sizeof the project cost, with the county andcommon in certain regions of the country, of the old terminal, with a spaciousstate picking up the rest of the tab (20%they are rarely needed on construction AirportImprovement.comJuly | August 2024'