SEBASTIAN — Community Development Director Joe Griffin, who will take over duties as Sebastian’s interim city manager Dec. 12, has been moving forward with a large two-pronged project at the city’s municipal airport which includes the replacement of the old golf course maintenance building, followed by improvements to the airport access road.
The 215-acre golf course operation is located on the 617-acre airport property, and both are enterprise fund entities. As a tenant, the golf course leases its property from the airport.
Griffin, who also serves as airport director, says the existing golf course maintenance building is 40 years old and can no longer efficiently serve the needs of the current course.
After the new building is completed, the old one will be demolished.
Bid openings on the maintenance building project took place Nov. 15, with four companies submitting bids, one of which has worked for the city on prior projects. (Ahrens Companies of Lake Park built Hangers A and B.)
Staff will review and compare all aspects of each bid, and Griffin hopes to have a recommendation before council by its first January meeting. Upon approval, a contract will be finalized, and construction can start 30 days later.
The road project will involve widening about 1,200 feet of Airport Drive from 21 to 25 feet and improving the intersections at Main Street and Brush Foot Drive.
The entire $1.5 million project will be paid for through matching grants from the FAA and the state Department of Transportation. The city received the state money last year.
Griffin said the project will include landscaping and will “set off” the airport administration building, which “has certain panache, a Key West style.”
After the project is completed, seven acres will become an outparcel for light industrial and manufacturing tenants.
The Sebastian Airport was built in 1943 by the U.S. Navy, one of several across the state that saw service during World War II. It was deeded to the city as part of the Government Surplus Act of 1959.