b'36 DET GENERAL AVIATIONacquiring 70 acres of land that included approximately 25 homes,wasnt a lot that had been invested since they a church and a playground that were too close to the runwaylost commercial service in the early 2000s. centerline and necessary for airport expansion. Lack of fundingThere were a few electronic records and other delays halted progress until the effort resumed in 2022.available to ready the Airport Layout Plan for Watt notes that the Uniform Relocation Act was used to acquireapproval, but flooding damaged or destroyed properties through condemnation, and owners received just andall physical records and drawings stored in fair compensation. In some cases, new homes were purchased.the basement of the former terminal building. I believe airports have to be good neighbors, Watt emphasizes.A lot of information that would have beenCOLIN WHEELERThey felt like they had been forgotten, and it was an honor to tellhelpful for us was now not available, Wheeler laments. them they werent. Nevertheless, he and Kimley-Horn gritted on, eventually The property acquisition program is slated to end later this year.securing conditional approval for the Airport Layout Plan from the FAA and Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) in July Moving Forward 2022. Achieving this huge milestone allowed DET to start focusing Completing an updated Airport Layout Plan was critical to securingon grant-funded and other projects it wanted to pursue. grant money for the many infrastructure improvements that areThe initial challenge for Wheeler was understanding the needed.98-year-old, 300-acre property. One major (and disheartening) City Airport had been chugging along any way that they coulddiscovery was that almost all major utilities for the entire east side by paying out of pocket for maintenance and improvements,of the city are buried around and adjacent to the airport. explains Colin Wheeler, project manager for DET consultantCemeteries located north and south of the primary runway Kimley-Horn. That limited their ability to invest, and there reallywere another key issue, and one of the main reasons DET could October 2025AirportImprovement.com'