Res 1974-029 - Laserfiche WebLink

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62.2 September 12, 1974 (,. iPag" 2 r ,,11'. Hrn.ard and others poiuted out that in the past the City Council at. San ~farcos has looked to Gary as a source of revenue for the General Fund and in fact all of the income earned froill the agricultural leases at Gary Over the past 11 years has beeu spent e1se~here. This type of diversion of funds collected from the airport is in violation of the conditious established by the Federal Government. in g.iving San Harcos control of the Gary facility. All revenues from the airlt are required to be invested in the maintenance and continued development of t facility as arr airport and cannot be used as revenue within the General Fund. Under this condition a considerable amount of money is owed by the City to the development of Cary. Severa I peopLe brought up the fact. that the City now o,med a very limited amount of land adjacent to the ramp at Gary. Everyone agreed that the city's proposed land swap with the Job Corps was a high priority necessity and should be accom- plished as Soon as possible. Also, several people pointed out that the property along Highway 21 was desirable for development since it was near the runways and had the advantage of being on the highway. Disadvantage would be lack of utilities and need for the building of additional ramps and taxi-ways. l1r. Robert Lm,,'m3n. addressed the Committee and althou.gh the Committee's main func- tion is the development of an airport facility at Gary he expressed some misgivings and concern about the operation at Lowman Field. Mr. Lowman donated the land at Low",a" for use as an airport and in fact this fie ld has been the only operationa 1 airport available for' use at San ~farcos for the past twenty years. In accordance with the terms and explanations of the gift of this land to the City, San ~1arcos will assume free aud clear title to the airport at Lowman ou the 4th of December this year. Hr. Lowman and others pointed out that the city has never lived up to t!:e conditions and terms of the land use and it was genera 11y agreed that the City has no vested interest in Loyman. If Lrn,man were to cease to exist as an airport many people who have supported and operated there for the past rnauy years WOUll staud to lose a considerable amouut of real investmeut and that this would be serious breach of moral and financial obligatiou to these individuals who are 1- sidering, and~ in fact have nude financial cO@ffiittments for expansion of aviat un activities at Lowmau who would suffer cousiderable financial loss if Lowman were to be sold or ceaSe to operate as an airport. Under the terms of Federal and State assistauce requirements, the City cannot have two muuicipal airports; therefore, the emphasis and impetus should be devoted to the development of Gary as the facilit~ haviug the greatest potential benefit for the City. The Committee cannot divorce the Lm.mau problem from it's considerations for improving Gary. Therefore, the Cormnittee \vould include as part of it I S recommendations that: 1. San Marcos return the land (runways) at Lowmau to Mr. Robert Lowman so that he WBY donate them to the property owners for continued use as an airfield, or 2. Sau ~1arcos turn the land at Lmmmn (runways) over to the property owners for their own development and use as an airfield, or 3. Immediate ly declare Gary as their only municipa 1 airport, and further efforts or expenditures will not be made on behalf of Lot.man Field. Take bids and award long term lease contracts on the runways and operation of the facility. Dedicate a 50 ft. street from the highway to runway and declare other property as surplus aua sell it to highest bidder. It was discussed and reco~nended that the City Council establish an airport Capital Improvement Fund or Program for the use of revenues obtained at Gary to be invled in the airfield. Next meeting to he called by Chairman George Gilbert.