The Cape Girardeau City Council on Monday will consider projects that could help start the city down a road to creating an improved and self-sustaining airport.

A need for more rental hangars has been seen at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

The council plans to vote during its 7 p.m. meeting on an ordinance that would authorize the city to seek design services for 10 new T-hangars. If constructed, the hangars would bring the total number at the airport to 70. The $36,000 design cost of the hangars would be 95 percent paid for with a grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation. The city would pick up the remaining 5 percent.

Design of taxilanes for the aircraft that would be stored in the hangars also would be included.

Kelly Green, assistant city manager who oversees development services, said during the council's April 26 retreat her department also plans to conduct a lease agreement analysis for the airport's space rentals to compare local rates with other airports and to look at whether additional land may be needed at the airport to accommodate demands. About five aircraft normally are on a waiting list for a hangar, according to city documents.

A plan to make the airport self-sustaining also will be created by development services this year.

"We are wanting to look at [the airport] from a development standpoint as opposed to an operational standpoint, which is how it has been looked at before," Green said.

Accepting grant funding for a wildlife hazard assessment that must be done also is up for consideration by the council.

The yearlong study must be completed because of a mandate from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA, according to city documents, has developed concerns with the potential threat of wildlife interfering with air travel since a US Airways plane hit a flock of geese and landed in the Hudson River in 2009. The assessment will cost about $35,000 and also will be 95 percent funded with a MoDOT grant and 5 percent funded by the city.

Return of tax holiday

Mayor Harry Rediger recently told the council he would like to see a back-to-school sales tax holiday return in 2013. The city passed an ordinance in 2009 that allowed it to opt out of the statewide sales tax holiday that is held annually during the first weekend in August.

The council plans to discuss a proposed ordinance that would reinstate the holiday, meaning the 2.75 percent city sales tax would not be collected during this year's holiday. Cape Girardeau County normally does not charge its 1 percent sales tax during the holiday, and the state sales tax of 4.225 cents always is waived. The city estimates its revenue loss if the council decides to allow participation will be between $42,000 and $81,000.

Downtown parking

Parking spaces removed along the north side of Broadway with the completion of the streetscape project in 2012 are coming closer to being replaced through the use of parking lot sharing agreements with downtown property owners. The council plans to finalize three of those agreements Monday.

Lots behind Broadway Prescription Shop at 710 Broadway, Last Call at 628 Broadway and in the 200 block of North Sprigg Street soon will be available for public parking. The city will make improvements to the lots with revenue from the operation of Isle Casino Cape Girardeau instead of paying property owners for the space.

A contract for the demolition of the old Convention and Visitors Bureau at the corner of Broadway and Main Street, which also will be turned into a parking lot, is expected to be approved.

eragan@semissourian.com

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