By
NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The sale of the Obee School property near the Hutchinson Airport appears to be working its way through the process, but there is still some work to be done with the FAA, because an extension to the building was actually technically built on city property set aside for the airport years ago.
"They survey the boundary of the airport, because it changes the footprint of the airport," said the airport's Pieter Miller. "There are environmental studies, because its on a landfill and a superfund site. I don't have the breakdown of the costs in front of me, but, it's a considerable amount of time. It has to go to the federal register, because it has to be publicly offered to say, okay, the government wants to sell this portion. It's no longer obligated under the federal obligations for grant assurances and all that kind of stuff. It's a process to sell a portion of an airport."
There are portions of land adjacent to the building that will still need to be leased by the eventual buyer from the city, so as to continue to give it proper protection for the airport's runway. Buhler USD 313 and the real estate agent representing them was asking for the city, the buyer and the school district to split the costs of the FAA required survey three ways. The City Council appeared to have a consensus to allow the transaction to go forward.
"We have some indication from the FAA this time that because there are other buildings, there are other structures in the area that we're attempting to sell, the resistance is not there," said City Attorney Paul Brown.
Closing on the transaction won't happen until all of the survey work is done. The hope is to get that taken care of later this year.