SRQ to Study Locales for New Tower

By Sara Kennedy, The Bradenton Herald, Fla.

Jan. 15–MANATEE — SRQ officials are in the process of finalizing an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration for $378,000 to fund a study to evaluate where a new control tower should be located.

The 18-month study would evaluate at least three relocation sites for a new tower, which would cost between $10 million and $13 million to build, said Rick Piccolo, SRQ president and chief executive officer. Piccolo hopes to build the tower in the next few years.

The new tower is necessary because the current one is old and because development on the airport grounds eventually could interfere with the controllers’ view, Piccolo said.

“With the age of the tower and as the airport has developed, we’re starting to have issues where they (controllers) have to move around the tower to see them (planes),” said Piccolo. “They’re just not located in a very good position for future development.”

The 135-foot air traffic control tower was commissioned in 1987, according to Warren Woodberry, a spokesman for the FAA.

Fourteen air traffic control specialists including seven certified professional controllers and seven controllers-in-training work at the tower, Woodberry said.

The study would include a detailed geographical look at the airport, along with a computer-generated, three-dimensional model of SRQ’s buildings, Woodberry said.

“It’s a site analysis to pick out where on the airport is the best location for a new tower including environmental impacts,” Piccolo said.

Sara Kennedy, Bradenton Herald business reporter, can be reached at 748-0411, ext. 4500

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