DOWAGIAC — The Dowagiac Municipal Airport is beginning the process to begin projects on the airport’s current five-year Airport Capital Improvement Plan.

On Friday, the city of Dowagiac sent out a notice intending to select a consultant to assist with airport development projects. As a public airport, federal regulations require the Dowagiac Municipal Airport to retain the services of a consultant. The selected consultant would need to have interests in providing airport planning, architectural and engineering design and construction administration services to complete four projects detailed on Dowagiac Municipal Airport’s five-year Airport Capital Improvement Plan including:

• New T-Hangar and site work

•Rehabilitation of existing airfield lighting and signage

•Rehabilitation of existing apron and taxiway pavements

•Rehabilitation of existing runway 9/27 pavements

Oscar Azevedo, the Dowagiac Municipal Airport manager, said that all public airports that receive federal and state funding are required to maintain a five-year Airport Capital Improvement Plan.

“It is basically the wishes and aspirations of the proper maintenance of an airport,” Azevedo said. “Basically, the priority is safety. Pavements are also a big thing. Safety of the aircraft comes first.”

The current five-year plan is reviewed every year in a meeting with Azevedo, Dowagiac City Manager Kevin Anderson and the Michigan Department of Transportation – Aeronautics.

Through the Federal Air Administration and MDOT’s Aeronautics division, the airport is also able to apply for funding in the form of grants.

Azevedo said the grant money is not used for any kind of fantasy wishes, but instead projects on the five-year plan. For example the existing airfield’s lighting is outdated.

“These lights are over 20 years old,” Azevedo said. “So pretty soon, they are going to fail.”

New lights would be light-emitting diode and use less electricity, which in turn would save the airport money. This is an expense on the five-year plan that Azevedo said was predictable.

Another project on the plan is to build a new row of T-Hangars that would be owned by the city of Dowagiac. T-Hangars are an enclosed structure designed to hold aircrafts within protective storage.

Azvedo said he has a constant waiting list of people who are interested in storing their airplanes at the airport.

“The income from those rentals would benefit the airport towards its sustenance,” Azevedo said.

The airport currently has two runways, one made of asphalt and one on grass. MDOT’s Aeronautics division hires an engineering firm that specializes in pavement and comes on an annual or biannual basis to test the pavement of the airport’s runways.

“Based on those studies, we can plan ahead for years in advance,” Azevedo said. “If the asphalts or pavements are decaying at this rate, we need to do something two years from now, three years from now or five years from now.”

Just because something is listed on the five-year plan does not mean the airport will accomplish projects necessarily within a five-year span. Funding delays, needs and engineers’ recommendations can sometimes cause the airport to switch around the priority of projects on its five-year plan.

According to the city of Dowagiac’s amended 2019 to 2020 projected budget, the airport received $130,500 from federal grants and $7,250 from state grants.

“Most non-airport users do not have an understanding of what it takes to maintain such a large facility in a safe manner that meets all the federal and state requirements,” Azevedo said.

Projects are expected to be completed between 2020-2024 in full or in part with funds or grants from the Federal Aviation Administrator, the state of Michigan and other local sources, according to the official request from the city.