Adam, an airport operations staff member, updated the commission on the snow-removal and equipment facility on Nov. 13. He said a prior draft GMP priced the building at about $33,000,000, which the airport could not fund.

"We went through an exercise of rightsizing it," Adam said, explaining that the design team reduced scope and produced a 60% design package that contractors priced at about $18.1 million for construction. With design and utility costs included, staff estimated the total near $20,000,000.

Why it matters: the facility stores critical snow-removal and ground-support equipment and will relieve pressure on hangar space currently used to store airport equipment. Building it sooner would also reduce long-term operational risks and enable better staging for seasonal operations.

Funding and next steps: Adam said staff had shared information with the FAA and ADOT; the FAA district office indicated support and will be asked to advocate for discretionary funds. Staff expect a discretionary FAA grant decision "by the end of December or early January," and said more details will be shared at the next commission meeting if the grant advances.

Context and caveats: the project previously scored poorly in discretionary funding rounds when the scope was larger; staff said the revised design focused on current needs plus room to expand in the future. No formal vote or budget appropriation was taken at the Nov. 13 meeting; commissioners asked to be kept apprised as grant responses arrive.