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Show County airport would cost $20 million, study says by Christopher Smart The final draft of a $50,000 study to evaluate the feasibility of an airport in Summit County should be complete and in the hands of officials at the Federal Aviation Administration Administra-tion (FAA) by next month. According to Park City Community Development Director Mike Vance, the draft report has been analyzed by Park City and Summit County officials .and, returned ; to , the engineering Sfitro Inidhargi fof) (hd study. Vance said that the Omaha, Nebraska-based firm of Buell, Winter and M ousel would submit the study to the FAA. About 90 percent of the three-part study was funded by the FAA, Vance said. Park City and Summit County are being asked to pay $2,180 each. The study was divided into three sections to determine (1) the most appropriate site for an airport, (2) the actual layout of the airport and (3) the cost of construction. According to Vance, an airport on the favored site easlt of U.S. 40 and south of Interstate; 80 would cost about $20 million. The airport, as proposed, could be operational at .about 60 percent of the total cost but would lack amenities. The most likely source of funds for the construction of an airport in Summit County would be the FAA, Vance said. That f unding would only come if Summit County was selected as a "reliever airport" for the Salt Lake International Airport. However, other sites, such as the Salt Lake Number Two airport and the Tooele airport, which have already been constructed, are also vying for reliever status. Without funding from FAA, Vance said the chances of an airport being built in Summit County are remote. Vance said the study is not a waste of money even though the construe-., tion of the airport doesn't seem likely. He explained that without thej 5 study it wouldn't be possible' to kno k where to locate an airport or how much it would cost to build one. He added that the lengthy study was a "master plan" for an airport. The study predicted that, by the year 2000, as many as 123 aircraft could be using a Summit County airport regularly. |