FREMONT- The Fremont City Council held their regular meeting on June 9th, 2020.
An item that received a lot of attention on the agenda was the Fremont Airport Terminal Building Architectural Service Agreement.
Davis Design, Inc. was given the bid for the design by the Airport Advisory Committee (AAC). Over the course of three AAC meetings, members were able to work with Davis Design to make improvements and changes to this design before bringing it to the council after starting a little over 7 months ago. The final design includes the apron that is currently under construction, a terminal building, an airport hanger (FBO).
The apron was found to not meet FAA requirements due to size and clearance by a consultant back in 2013. Improvements for the airport began shortly after. The apron construction cost was a split with FAA 90/10. The total cost was $2.5 million dollars; the city’s portion of that was $250,000.
Along with the apron improvements, the city budgeted $2 million for a terminal building in the capital improvement plan. The AAC has been working meticulously to design and approve the design for the terminal building, which includes the FBO attached to the terminal. The AAC plans to use private and public funding options to raise the funds for the FBO.
The improvements for the Fremont Airport have been in the works for over 7 years. Mayor Getschmann stated that this terminal is very important to the growth and economic development of Fremont.
Studies by the Nebraska Department of Transportation found the Fremont airport provides over $10 million dollars in economic impact annually and helps support over 90 jobs related to airport activities. These numbers are expected to largely increase with the improvements to the airport.
The final design and architectural agreement with Davis Design, Inc. for the new airport terminal building were approved by council by 5-3 vote. The project will now go out for construction bids.
Councilmembers Jacobus, Yerger, and Ellis voted no for multiple reasons involving the FBO. In their discussions, they raised concerns about where the money was coming from for the FBO and councilmember Jacobus also expressed concerns about the FBO design as she does not believe they have known long enough about the addition of the airport hanger.
Other items on the agenda were to authorize an agreement with WholeStone Farms for new substation H and discussion regarding Fremont’s Comprehensive Plan and UDC (Unified Development Code).
WholeStone Farms wants to help accommodate the load for a second shift by helping reimburse the cost for a new electrical substation. The city and WholeStone Farms entered an agreement for WholeStone to reimburse the city for work completed to design and build new substation H. This substation will also help the city provide power to the growing industrial Southside of Fremont.
The substation is estimated to cost $5,141,371. The city will allow WholeStone farms to utilize 63.63% of capacity of the substation. The agreement states that they will reimburse the city $3,271,455 and not to exceed that amount. This resolution carried with a 5-3 vote from the council.
The planning commission is beginning to start the process of sending out RFPs to update the Fremont comprehensive plan and UDC. The comprehensive plan provides vision and guidance to the city for future actions in the community. This comprehensive plan is reformed roughly every 10 years.
The Unified Development Code (UDC) will also change to reflect changes in the comprehensive plan. The UDC sets the policy for zoning, city regulations, and details for development.
Mayor Getschmann spoke and discussed a brief history of the process of developing a comprehensive plan and new UDC. Fremont has seen many changes over the last 10 years and it is expected that this plan will take a lot of community input to complete. Council discussed how the new census data will impact the timeline for this plan. No action was taken on this item.
