New business to offer fuel at airport

The Morgan County Commission has approved a conditional use permit for a facility which will now provide fuel onsite for airplanes at the Morgan County Airport. Currently the .99-acre lot/building in the airport is leased to the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Service is transferring its lease to Wasatch Industries owned by Brant Hayward who has applied for the permit to run an avionics shop, fueling station and a café/deli/ice cream shop there.  

The entrance to the lot is on west Willow Creek Road. The operation meets local code requirements and has received a positive recommendation from the planning commission, planner Jeremy Lance told the commission.

Prior to hearing the application from Hayward, two longtime aviators who have had many years associated with the airport spoke and expressed their concern about the proposed location of the fuel tank.

“My recommendation would be to withhold approval of that specific thing — location of that fuel service unit — until a thorough review and analysis of the whole issue, alternate sites and so on, can be explored,” Stan McGrew said. “My sense in talking to the airport people [is] they see a possible delay in getting fuel on the airport preferable to the adverse effects of putting it in the wrong spot.”

Locating the fuel service unit at the proposed site which is not actually on the lot being leased by Hayward would result in congestion on the surrounding ramp and taxiway areas, McGrew and Bernie Fullencamp said. While both supported the idea of the fueling business, they were concerned about the proposed location for the tank. Along with leading to congestion, putting it there would result in the elimination of some tie-down locations and hinder seasonal snow removal operations from adjacent ramp and taxiway areas, they said. McGrew has gathered the signatures of 28 plane owners who oppose that location.

“I and the other 27 signers of that letter broadly agree with the concept of the applicant in terms of establishing FBO [fixed base operator],” Fullencamp said. “Our single reservation is the location of the fuel tank … Certainly approve the request; we only request that you give more time for analysis of what would be the optimum location for our beautiful little airport for that self-service fuel.”

Michelle Lyons, who lives adjacent to the airport, also spoke in opposition to locating the tank there. She asked that the now-dissolved Airport Authority Board be reinstituted before the commission gave its approval. Ron Gardner, a local pilot, spoke and expressed support for Wasatch Industries.

Hayward later told the commission that the site for the tank had not been picked by him but was instead part of the airport master plan. Electrical conduit has already been run to the area, he said. An alternate site proposed by McGrew is part of an area still leased by the Forest Service, Hayward said.

“They’re not going to let a bunch of planes go over there where their helicopters are,” he said. After he explained that to some petition signers “they want their names off that list,” he said.

To address the concern of planes queueing, Hayward suggested instead that planes could queue to get fuel along the taxiway to runway three which is rarely used, he said. He also expressed a willingness to sit down with McGrew and the others to work out a better location.  He could get together with the airport community to come up with a spot that works for everybody, he said. Hayward is hoping to receive delivery of the fuel tank within weeks.

The issue of the fuel tank’s location could be addressed in the lease agreement between Hayward and the county, County Attorney Garrett Smith told the commission. Since the Forest Service is expected to vacate the airport within a couple of years, the location recommended by McGrew could be considered in future lease negotiations, he said. After discussion of the issue, the county commission voted unanimously to approve the conditional use permit for Wasatch Industries.