The Heritage Center airport development plan is pictured above. (Cropped image from DOE Draft Environmental Assessment)
The City Council will get an update on the proposed general aviation airport in west Oak Ridge during a work session this evening.
The update will be given by Billy Stair, public affairs consultant for the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.
The airport could cost $30-$40 million, and construction could start in 2018, according to a current timeline and construction estimate. The airport would include a 5,000-foot runway and be built at the front side of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site.
The Oak Ridge airport would the third for the MKAA, which would own the site. The other two are McGhee Tyson in Blount County and Downtown Island in Knoxville. The Oak Ridge airport would be a reliever airport and help relieve congestion at the other two airports.
The U.S. Department of Energy is evaluating the potential transfer of 170 acres at Heritage Center for the airport, and DOE and MKAA officials had a public information session on the proposed property transfer in August. A public comment period ended in early September.
An environmental assessment for the property transfer could be complete in November or December, and the decision on whether to proceed depends upon the assessment.
Also tonight, Anderson County Chamber of Commerce President Rick Meredith, Chamber board members, and City Council are expected to discuss economic and promotional collaboration between the city and county.
The City Council work session—it’s a non-voting discussion meeting—starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 22, at the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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