
The Oregon Department of Aviation has been working on plans for proposed improvements at Aurora State Airport for the next 20 years that could extend the runway 500 feet, move more than a mile of Highway 551 and condemn homes and other property.
No one in the area seems to like the proposed master plan that is estimated to cost $185 million, and numerous people have complained of not being heard when they tried to provide input.
“Most people are not happy with it because it has so many issues,” Aurora Mayor Brian Asher told the Statesman Journal. “You don’t know which issue somebody’s upset about vs. the next person’s issue.”
State airports manager Tony Beach said the Department of Aviation is considering input it received from a committee of people with an interest in the airport and public comment submitted through Jan. 21
Beach said input was used to change the plan to eliminate moving the traffic control tower, condemn hangars to build a road for cars and moving the runway — and changes can still be made.
Bruce Bennett, whose family has owned hangars at the airport since 1973, said he is unswayed.
“When you start with something insane and correct it, it’s a little hard to give them credit,” Bennett said.
Creating a new master plan for Aurora Airport
The Aurora State Airport is classified as a general aviation airport — a public airport without commercial service. With about 64,000 flights in 2024, it is the third busiest airport in the state behind Portland International Airport and Hillsboro Airport.
Dozens of aviation-related businesses that employ some 1,500 people are adjacent to the airport, which is on the northern boundary of Marion County. A 2005 state law allows businesses bordering the airport “through the fence” access, to access the runway.
Opponents of airport expansion say projections the state used to justify the need to move the airport to C-II status— for medium-size corporate jets — are faulty because the number of flights the past three years has not kept pace with projections.
There were 64,000 flights in 2022 when the airport was projected to have 77,000 and there were 63,000 in 2023 when it was projected to have 77,200.
“Three year’s worth of data is kind of significant,” said Ben Williams, president of the land-use group Friends of French Prairie.
Determining how to expand the runway at Aurora
The state says the airport has to be upgraded or be placed on “maintenance mode,” which would involve a partial shut down until improvements are made.
The aviation department presented seven alternatives of improvements for the airport.
A couple of those options involved reverting the airport to B-II status for smaller planes like two-seaters, with no need to expand. Beach said the Federal Aviation Administration decided that was not viable.
Other options included extending the runway to the north or south and moving the runway to the east or west. Some of those early proposals involved moving the tower.
In November the department settled on keeping the runway where it is but extending it 497 feet north to 5,500 feet based on updated FAA standards and requirements.
While that option would keep the runway inside the existing airport property, other changes would be needed.
Complaints of failing to engage with airport’s neighbors
All of the meetings about the airport — except one open house — have been held online.
“They started all of these meetings on Zoom. To my chagrin, they haven’t graduated,” Bennett said.
Some people told the Statesman Journal their feedback was dismissed and requests for in-person meetings were denied.
Beach counters that the department has had twice as much public involvement as other master plans since 2021. Postcards were sent to residents and property owners in a one-mile radius of the highway and public notices were placed for the nine meetings the department held.
Two people who own homes on the west side of Highway 551 told the Statesman Journal they didn’t know anything about the proposal and hadn’t received the postcards.
Jason Paolo has worked at Anderson Hay & Grain, directly across Highway 551 from the Aurora State Airport, since 2003. He said he found out about the proposal when a postcard arrived a couple years ago at Anderson’s corporate office in Washington state.
Paolo said he has contacted multiple property owners on the west side of the highway and none knew what was going on.
Paolo has watched online meetings but said he wasn’t called on to speak about his concerns.
One of his concerns, he said, is that NW Natural’s main distribution hub for the southern part of the Willamette Valley is on an easement on the corner of Anderson’s property where the proposal includes moving the highway.
“The lack of their communication is just shocking to me,” Paolo said.
Plan could impact 20 properties along Highway 551
The most recent FAA standards require a 400-foot “Runway Object Free Area” on each side of the center line of runways.
On the west side, that 400 feet ends up in the middle of Highway 551. To comply with the clearance, an estimated two-mile stretch of the highway would have to move about 80 feet to the west where there are 20 private properties including at least five residences.
David Waggoner of Willamette Aviation, a flight school based at Aurora, said the state has ignored suggestions of rerouting traffic on Highway 551 to Boones Ferry Road to avoid moving the highway.
“To me, that is unfathomable,” Waggoner said. “They’re going to be taking the property that businesses are on. There are two subdivisions there that have retired, lower income people, and they’re talking about disrupting that, which they don’t need to.”
Beach said a decision about what property will need to be taken will come from the Oregon Department of Transportation. He said the aviation department has assumed ODOT would want to maintain its 200-feet of right of way.
“We assumed that we would maintain that for planning purposes,” Beach said. “But the actual design, the actual layout, what ODOT would need for shifting the highway, that will be determined at the design phase of the project.”
The latest version of the plan, released Jan. 7, shows the state taking portions of aprons in front of hangars. That means businesses including Life Flight would have less room to park planes and helicopters.
The proposed master plan designates all of the property between the airport and Airport Road as property acquisition for the aeronautic reserve. That means the state would be allowed to buy property when it becomes available, if it is able to get FAA funding.
Tony Helbling, logistics manager for Wilson Construction, said that is unnecessary since buildings in the area only are allowed to be used for aircraft purposes.
“If they’re so good at telling everyone else what they should do with their property or buy it so they could preserve it, why haven’t they put hangars on their own property?” Helbling said.
Sewer drain fields also would be moved under plan
Two septic system drain fields on state-owned land north and south of the runway would be removed under the master plan because they don’t meet the standard of being able to hold up to an airplane or safety equipment like a fire truck driving over them.
The drain field on the north comes from Columbia Helicopters.
The one on the south is used by a group of businesses on the south end of the airport under the undefined sewer district. It was the subject of a 2023 lawsuit brought by Aurora Planning Commission Chair Joseph Schaefer alleging the drain field was illegal. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2024.
Western Construction’s Helbling said the sewer district has an easement and a lease to use that.
The state rejected an offer by businesses on the south end to research use of geotextile fabric, a woven fabric to help stabilize soil, saying it wants the drain field removed.
“We don’t feel we have to,” Helbling said. “Our lawyers have told us we have this and it’s legal. The state can scream and the FAA can say, no, no, no you can’t have it. But we’ve shown them we can improve this.”
What’s next for the master plan?
The next meeting of the master plan’s Planning Advisory Committee is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Feb. 11 on Zoom.
Once the airport layout plan is completed, the state will send the layout plan to the FAA for approval. Beach said the state hasn’t finalized when that will happen.
If the FAA signs off, master plans return to the state for aviation board adoption.
Groups with an interest in the master plan are hoping for changes before it is finalized.
Some people say the price tag could preclude the plan from being completed.
Beach said the FAA typically covers 90% of project costs through competitive grants and the department has to come up with the rest.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” said Aurora Mayor Asher. “The federal government has very deep pockets, and if the right combination is put forth, things could happen.”
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at [email protected]
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