Wittman Regional Airport PC: Fox 11 Online
WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — As Wittman Regional Airport gears up for the busiest week in aviation during EAA AirVenture next month, a plan to build new hangars is in motion.
Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz said the project has been a long time coming.
“12 years ago, the Winnebago County Board and the city of Oshkosh created the Aviation Business Park on the southeast corner of Wittman Field, with hopes of growing aviation-related business,” Hintz explained.
Volare Hangars, based in Arizona, is now looking to lease the space. 47 acres — nearly the entire county’s part of the business park — is being considered to house 100 hangars and related facilities.
“We think this is a real opportunity to grow aviation-related business at the airport, to drive revenue, to create jobs,” Hintz added.
Plans for the space are in their early stages. The county still needs to discuss lease terms.
Hintz said the county is working to expand the operations of Wittman to draw more visitors year-round.
“I think we forget sometimes that, to the aviation community around the world, this is one of the airport meccas, and we really want to build on the two-week period of AirVenture, and so does Volare,” he said.
Hintz added the addition of the hangars wouldn’t just bring in new pilots. He said it would bring jobs, businesses and visitors from all over the world, and the hangars could be a new way to support county operations.
“If we can get the hangar development and we can get the lease revenue, it would clearly bring in more dollars to help the county with the budget and reduce the reliance on property taxpayers,” Hintz said.
Winnebago County will make a decision on the proposal during its meeting Tuesday. If the proposal is approved by the county, official plans for the hangars may come as soon as the week of the largest aviation convention in the world.
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