COUPEVILLE: Port gets loan for airport (WNT)

Karina Andrew reports for the Whidbey News-Times from the Port of Coupeville board meeting of May 23, 2023.

At least one Port of Coupeville commissioner may be getting cold feet regarding the agency’s pending purchase of the A.J. Eisenberg Airport, even as the port moves toward securing a funding source for the purchase and its deadline to execute a sale agreement looms closer.

Port Commissioner David Day said during a public meeting Wednesday that he has a number of reservations about closing on the property without a written agreement from Island County to provide purchase funds or form any other kind of formal partnership with the port.

They Said It

County Commissioner Melanie Bacon said in an interview that the county commissioners will discuss how to award Rural County Economic Development Fund grants in two weeks and did not yet know whether the Port of Coupeville’s application would be granted.

This uncertainty was a cause of consternation for Day.

“Suppose that that money doesn’t come through, and we end up on the hook for a 15-year bond at 7%,” he said, referring to the interest rate on the bond. “How is that going to be financed?”

County Commissioner Jill Johnson told the Whidbey News Group that she is not interested in putting her support behind the port while there is litigation pending.

“Until the port has clarity from the courts on if they can pursue the purchase, I don’t see any benefit to the county inserting itself into the process,” Johnson said [referring to the lawsuit filed by North Whidbey resident Robert DeLaurentis, disputing the port’s right to purchase the airport]. “Once they know if they are in a legal position to buy, I will decide if I believe the value of the investment makes sense. Not before.”

Day was also put off by reports from managers of other regional airports that they typically operate at a loss. “I personally don’t know where funds will come from for all these future needs. I haven’t gotten that far yet,” he said.

Commissioner John Callahan reiterated a point previously made by community advocates for the port’s purchase of the airport that the airport currently has a positive cash flow. [Commissioner John] Mishasek said hangar rentals will bring an estimated $100,000 annually, while fuel sales will produce another $100,000 in revenue.

But the expenses incurred by the port will be significant, as well….Day said that he “can’t figure out where the money’s going to come from,” despite “thinking about it for over a year and a half.”

He added that he doesn’t see the project working out without a stronger partnership between the port, Island County and the city of Oak Harbor. Day expressed his appreciation for the $200,000 Oak Harbor has already committed in an interlocal agreement to give the port after closing on the airport.

“I want to be very clear: I believe that that property should be public,” he said. “I just want to know how it is that the Port of Coupeville — 8,000 voters — is supposed to support that without help from Island County and the city of Oak Harbor, who stand to benefit from it considerably more than the Port of Coupeville itself actually does.”

On the Ballot in August 2023