Lorain County Airport Expansion Could Pave Way for Burke Lakefront Closure

The article is published as part of an exclusive content-sharing agreement with neo-trans.blog.

While NEOtrans usually doesn’t cover development news in the collar counties around Cuyahoga County, the funded expansion of Lorain County Regional Airport could have a significant impact on the urban core of Greater Cleveland. Specifically, it could provide a runway for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to allow the closure of Burke Lakefront Airport in Downtown Cleveland.

The implications are still being measured from a joint announcement two days ago by state and Lorain County officials. The Ohio Department of Development’s All Ohio Future Fund awarded and the State Controlling Board approved $67.4 million for a 1,000-acre industrial “Mega Site” next to Lorain County Regional Airport.

A large chunk of that will go toward the lengthening of the airport’s 5,000-foot-long runway to reach 6,500 feet. The goal is to add industries and distribution centers nearby. The rest will go toward the construction of sewers and waterlines to the site in New Russia Township, seven miles southwest of Elyria.

“The Mega Site property is centered around the Lorain County Regional Airport, which could offload some of the load from Cleveland Hopkins and Burke Lakefront,” said State Senator Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) and his mother State Representative Gayle Manning (R-Avon) in a written statement.

The Elyria Chronical-Telegram reported yesterday that “Lengthening the runway allows the regional airport to accommodate freight traffic and compete with Cleveland Hopkins International Airport for cargo shipping from companies like Amazon, UPS and FedEx.”

“The lengthened runway could fill a gap left by the closure of Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport,” it added. The newspaper reported that discussions of Burke’s fate came up when Manning and her son were pushing to see the funds allocated to Lorain County.

The runway extension is a step in the right direction, said Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne who, along with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, are seeking to close the 450-acre Burke as part of lakefront redevelopment efforts. Without Burke, high-rise development at the lakefront stadium site becomes possible.

“It won’t hurt (Cuyahoga) County Airport but it further opens the door for closing Burke,” Ronayne told NEOtrans. He, Bibb and others are lobbying the Ohio Congressional Delegation to support their Burke closure efforts.

An airport can be closed through administrative action by the FAA or by legislative action from Congress. Neither is likely if the airport being closed offers the best aviation facilities among reliever airports in a given major metropolitan area.

The FAA wants one or more reliever airports in each major metro to take the general aviation pressure off the principal commercial airports in that metro area, and to serve as an emergency backup. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is, of course, Greater Cleveland’s principal commercial airport.

Burke Lakefront Airport has, by far, the best facilities (see below) among Greater Cleveland’s four reliever airports — Burke Lakefront, Cuyahoga County, Lake County Executive (formerly Lost Nation), and Lorain County Regional.

The planned runway lengthening for Lorain County Regional Airport is an important step for it to offer the same or better facilities as Burke, but it still has a long way to go.

But Ronayne has argued that, among all Greater Cleveland’s reliever airports, they can collectively offer the same or better features as Burke — once Lorain County Regional Airport’s runway is lengthened.

Lorain County’s runway isn’t as wide as Burke’s. It lacks the apron and hangar space, and it has no terminal or an air traffic control tower to provide on-site, real-time Notice To Airman (NOTAM) air traffic, weather and construction reports.

“Closing Burke is both possible and economically advantageous for Cleveland,” said Bibb last year after the city commissioned a cost-benefit study on Burke’s closure.

The study noted that closing Burke and redeveloping it with recreation and limited residential/commercial space could generate up to $92 million per year in new economic activity.

At the same time, closing it would result in losing nearly $32 million per year in economic benefits and incurring up to $41.2 million in one-time reimbursements, lease buy-outs and demolition costs. It would also likely mean the end of the 60-year run of the Cleveland National Air Show.

When Intel was looking around Ohio to build a major semiconductor plant, it considered the Lorain County Regional Airport site. But the infrastructure and land availability wasn’t to its liking, said Terry Coyne, vice chairman in real estate brokerage Newmark’s Cleveland office.

He said that this 1,000-acre industrial Mega Site and airport expansion isn’t being done in response to a prospective end-user. Rather, it is being done to attract one or more like Intel or weapons manufacturer Anduril. Both chose Central Ohio locations for their massive, new facilities.

“It is a great idea,” Coyne said of Lorain County’s Mega Site. “They’re trying to set the table for the next Intel or Anduril.”

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport

• Runways: 06R/24L is 9,953 feet long and 150 feet wide, 06L/24R is 9,000 feet long and 150 feet wide, and 10/28 is 6,018 feet long and 150 feet wide.
• Apron: 2.5 million square feet
• Hangars: 128,500 square feet
• Air Traffic Control: on-site NOTAM-D 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Terminal: 380,000 square feet (895,000 square feet planned)

Burke Lakefront Airport

• Runways: 06L/24R is 6,604 feet long and 150 feet wide, while 06R/24L is 5,197 feet long and 100 feet wide.
• Apron: 326,000 square feet
• Hangars: 54,000 square feet
• Air Traffic Control: on-site NOTAM-D from 7am-11pm Monday-Saturday and 8am-12m Sunday, NOTAM-G all other times.
• Terminal: 57,750 square feet

Cuyahoga County Airport

• Runways: 6/24 is 5,102 feet long and 100 feet wide.
• Apron: approximately 900,000 square feet
• Hangars: 110,000 square feet
• Air Traffic Control: NOTAM-D from 7am-11pm daily, NOTAM-G all other times
• Terminal: No public terminal

Lorain County Regional Airport

• Runways: 07/25 is 5,002 feet long and 100 feet wide (lengthening to 6,500 feet is planned).
• Apron: 460,000 square feet
• Hangars: 88,423 square feet (additional space planned)
• Air Traffic Control: No tower, NOTAMs available from Cleveland Flight Service Station or FAA.
• Terminal: No public terminal

Lake County Executive Airport

• Runways: 5/23 is 5,028 feet long and 100 feet wide and 10/28 is 4,272 feet long and 100 feet wide.
• Apron: 190,000 square feet
• Hangars: Approximately 52,000 square feet
• Air Traffic Control: No tower, NOTAMs available from Cleveland Flight Service Station or FAA.
• Terminal: No public terminal

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