— by Bea vonTobel, former ORS Port Manager–

First, a little history

  • Since the first FAA grant was authorized in 1975, total federal dollars invested in the Orcas Island Airport have totaled $8,836,631.00.
  • Between 2007 and 2017, WSDOT/Transportation funding has totaled $253,309.00.
  • Total investments: $9,089,940.00.
  • Current port-leased hangars total 37 plus two commercially-leased hangars and one additional land lease (FedEx).
  • Tiedown spaces include 30 grass tiedown spaces and 23 tarmac spaces.

And now, some past and future predictions
Historic and forecast data for Orcas airport show extremely modest upward trends. Looking at historical tiedown numbers, a large number of annual tarmac rentals decreased when 14 new hangars were constructed soon after 2000, and those tarmac tiedown numbers appear not to have increased, especially after the economic downturn in 2008.

General transient visits to the airport have increased in the last 2-3 years. Income from those visits should be available in monthly financial statements and would indicate current trends.

Enplanement data is based on data submitted by commercial operators serving the airport. Over the last 20 years, both enplanements and commercial operations have reported slight decreases. Current FAA 20-year forecast estimates show 3.1% increase in enplanements, and .87% increase in commercial operations.

Instrument approach/departure (IFR) activity to ORS (the airport)  has increased as the result of the completion of instrument (GPS) approaches to both Runways16 and 34. There is no easy way to discern whether that activity is due to commercial, transient or based-aircraft activity.

With the FAA estimate for a 3.32% increase in based aircraft when compared to a 2.48% increase in population over 20 years, conclusions might be drawn re future residents.

Observations and opinions
1—It would be great to extend the east boundary of the airport north from the present corner of the rotating beacon to Mike Parnell’s property boundary.( Parnell’s property lies just north of Dick Griot’s and Larsons’s properties, which are the two properties just north of the airport’s property on the east side.  Parnell’s property is also just south of Brandt’s Landing property line.  So, in order, south to north, it’s port, Griot, Larson, Parnell, Brandt’s Landing—on the east side.)Land purchase would be needed to accomplish this.

2—It would also be great to purchase land on the west side of the airport to allow the south stub of taxiway A2 to be extended to and connected with the south end of Aviator Dr, and thus to taxiway B1. This would provide aircraft access to the port’s westside property and eliminate back-taxiing on the runway.

Neither of these items would satisfy the FAA runway-parallel taxiway separation requirements, but that would be another item to discuss and perhaps modify. It would, however, provide the port with land to develop which could provide an additional income stream for future growth.

3—The terminal is in need of an update. Its current location is wonderful, as arrivals can deplane, walk through two doors and have immediate access to ground transportation. Its location is what makes arriving at ORS such an informal and pleasantly unusual experience. It would be great to replicate that experience in a more modern and Orcas-like facility.

4—Much has been said about the mention of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility. We talked about it as far back as 2009. Having a seasonal facility, shared with Brandt’s Landing, made sense when we were discussing it. Both pilots and boaters would have a way to come here without having to land/dock first in Bellingham or Friday Harbor. During those discussions, a price upwards of $100,000 was the starting point for construction of a facility, with personnel costs additional. The operative word here is seasonal.

5—There has been mention of additional vehicle parking. The port owns developable land, and if ‘event’ parking is needed, options are available to allow that to be a private-public partnership venture.

Well, that’s the view from where I sit. I tend to like Alternative 1 with the modifications noted above.

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