The Hermiston City Council voted Monday night to authorize City Manager Byron Smith to accept a $300,000 state grant for a Hermiston Airport taxiway project.
This is the second $300,000 grant the city will receive for the taxiway realignment project. In August, the city accepted another grant in that amount from the Federal Aviation Administration. This grant, a Connect Oregon V grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation, is the second part of a three-part funding package for the realignment and rehabilitation of the parallel taxiway at the airport.
Hermiston Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said the ODOT grant will serve as the city’s non-federal match against the FAA’s $300,000 grant and a $2.3 million FAA grant scheduled to be awarded to the city next spring.
“This Connect Oregon Grant is extremely important for the city of Hermiston, as FFA grants require a 10-percent match from non-federal sources,” Morgan said in a memo to the mayor and council. “Typically, this match would have to come from (the city), but thanks to the Connect Oregon program, we will be able to accomplish the taxiway realignment project at no cost to the city, other than staff time to oversee design and construction.”
Morgan said the project will involve moving the runway 40 feet to the north to meet FAA requirements. Design of the project is expected to begin this month with construction completed by the end of next year.
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