A legislative committee has recommended that Hartford-Brainard Airport remain open in its current use.
Though Hartford officials have said the 200-acre airport, which fronts the Connecticut River and has 111 employees on site, could be redeveloped to generate more property taxes for the city, the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee (PRI) said Wednesday that there’s no clear path forward for closing the airport anytime soon.
PRI said in its final report that closure “would be extremely difficult and likely costly,” and would require an unlikely federal approval or waiting until 2035, when federal grant obligations expire.
Closure and subsequent remediation and construction — perhaps of a warehousing facility — would also require “significant public funds,” according to the report, and could take as long as several decades.
While it doesn’t support closure, PRI called for higher payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) allotments for the state’s general aviation airports. Hartford received a $479,000 PILOT payment from the state for Brainard in fiscal year 2015. That was $734,000 less than the city would have received if the land alone were on the tax rolls, PRI said.
The committee noted that the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) and Brainard’s operator have invested in the airport and plan to continue to do so. Brainard, which houses a flight school, has secured a new charter service, is building a restaurant, has proposed building more indoor aircraft storage space, and has plans to extend its runway to accommodate larger aircraft.
PRI said it supports those plans and suggested that CAA consider boosting its marketing of Brainard, including a possible name change; work with the city to develop an airport development zone; adding a new paid overnight parking lot, self-service fueling and wash bay; raising rents, especially for office space; privatizing maintenance services; installing solar panels; and hosting more social events at the airport.
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