Council approves Lake Tahoe Airport hangar taxilane project

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Lake Tahoe Aiport is getting a new taxi lane in front of the hangars, one of many deferred maintenance projects the City of South Lake Tahoe has been addressing.

The cost will be about $414,000.

Prior to the City Council's approval on Tuesday, there was some question from the public about the expense of a new taxi lane instead of the funds being used on needed road repairs.

Opened in 1959, the airport was purchased by the City of South Lake Tahoe from El Dorado County in 1983 for $1. According to an economic impact study done by the University of Nevada Reno Center for Economic Development in 2020, not only is the Lake Tahoe Airport responsible for $5.44 million in economic activity for the South Shore but it is also a hub for firefighting and military planes and is the base of South Lake Tahoe Emergency Operations.

There was commercial airline activity from 1958 to 2001, and the City decided to surrender the airport's commercial airport certificate in 2015 when they could not re-establish airline service. Since then, the airport has served as a general aviation airport. According to the UNR study, the airport had been able to increase revenues by 5.67 percent from 2006-2018 while keeping expenses below the rate of inflation, at 2.03 percent.

There are currently 70 tenants at the airport including City departments, bar/restaurant, helicopter tour companies, a real estate office, an engineering company, a photography business, and air ambulance services. Those tenants have staff, and according to the study, contribute $8.98 million in economic activity on the California side of the South Shore.

The airport made $979,331 in income last year. With 26,000 flights annually, the income comes from rents and fees.

The airport has an airport improvement program, when you accept federal funding you take on the grant guidelines, if you don't abide by those you must give back the funds. The City has received millions of dollars through those grants for airport needs.

The expense approved Tuesday will come from the City's General Fund. Sometimes there are grant funds available when maintenance projects come up, but that is a very competitive process with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to the new Airport Manager John Dickinson.

The upcoming rehabilitation project will include 3 to 4-inches mill and fill treatment for each of the taxi lanes and covers all the taxi lanes in between the hangers as well as the taxiway delta.