WAVERLY MUNICIPAL AIRPORT-LAND ACQUISITION

Project Overview

The Waverly Municipal Airport was faced with acquiring approximately 35 acres of private property prior to extending Runway 11/29 to the east.  Furthermore, the FAA was requiring the airport to protect the building restriction lines, runway safety areas, and runway approach ends which required approximately 35 additional acres of land acquisition. In total, approximately 70 acres of private property from six different land owners was acquired in fee simple and avigation easements in order to extend Runway 11/29 and bring the Airport in conformance with FAA safety standards.

McClure assisted the City of Waverly submit a pre-application for federal funding assistance requesting approximately $1.3M in order to acquire the approximately 70 acres of private property adjacent to the Waverly Municipal Airport.

In the summer of 2012, the City of Waverly received notification from the FAA to begin the land acquisition process.  As a result, the City of Waverly contracted with McClure to complete Phases I and II of the land acquisition process conforming to the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Act of 1970.

The Phase I services included finalizing the Exhibit A Property Map, verifying the proposed parcels for acquisitions with the FAA, initiating contact with the affected landowners, meeting individually with each affected landowner, and determining their willingness to sell.  The Phase II services included preparing the survey plats, coordinating the completion of the environmental site assessments, and coordinating the primary appraisals and the review appraisals with qualified appraisers.

The City of Waverly elected to complete the Phase III services in-house which included making written offers, negotiating the purchase agreements with the private property owners, and coordinating the closings.

Project Highlights:

McClure assisted the City complete and file an Obstruction Evaluation/Airport Airspace Analysis (OE/AAA) case with the FAA to determine if the existing structures on the proposed property were negatively impacting the navigable airspace.  The tallest points for each structure were surveyed and submitted to the FAA’s OE/AAA website. The results of the analysis were used to ultimately determine if the existing structures needed to be removed once the property was acquired.