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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2019)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL | WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2019 | 9A Center from A1 Self-promotion has been part of that uptick. To accel- erate the airport’s populari- ty, Nadine has been getting the word out about the new center to various aviation bodies, putting the modest airport on the map. Shawn, a pilot himself, is an aero-volunteer for the Oregon Department of Avi- ation. “That basically means that there’s nobody else around, so I’m here,” he said. As part of his routine du- ties, Shawn walks the run- way, calls in general mainte- nance issues, checks to make sure everything is up to snuff and helps visiting pilots however he can. Though Nadine accept- ed the Impact Award at the Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce Banquet this year for getting the welcome center built, she takes her role with some humility. “I’m just the wife of the pilot,” she said with a laugh. “And I wanted a bathroom here.” More than a decade ago, the previous owner picked up the entire structure that had been there and moved it off-site, leaving nothing but a barren slab of broken cement and a portable toi- let by the tarmac. For years, this was effectively Cottage Grove Airport’s point of wel- come. Unsurprisingly, aerial visitations were in a slump. At a Chamber of Com- merce meeting on attract- ing tourism in 2014, Nadine turned to her husband and said how nice it would be to just give the airport a bath- room. From this the wel- come center was born. “I wanted something that looked good,” said Nadine. As the nearly-four-year project took root and gath- ered momentum, the State of Oregon was very recep- tive to the building of the The Cottage Events Venue presents ARGENTINE GUITAR VIRTUOSO Pablo Figueroa with Craig Einhorn IN CONCERT Sunday, May 5 at 7 PM $10-$15 at the door 2915 Row River Rd • cottageevents.com TURNING 65 AND NEED HELP WITH YOUR MEDICARE CHOICES? Call Paul to help simplify the complicated. 541-517-7362 Paul Henrichs ~ Local Independent Agent coverage4oregon@gmail.com center when approached by the Kelleys. Their plan had included making donations tax deductible and handing ownership over to the state once construction was com- pleted. “Because even if we owned it, we could just shut it down next year and say, ‘Sorry. It’s demonstrated their seri- ousness in completing the project, they suddenly found themselves at the top of the state’s priorities list. In 2016, they got their entire runway redone and they’re also ex- pecting the tarmac to get some work to even it out in the future. “I’d say about 80 percent of the people who land here go into town.” — Shawn Kelley too hard. We don’t want to operate it. We don’t want to pay for everything,’” Nadine said. “They were the best choice because they’ll keep it open as long as ever is ever.” Getting the state on board was a boon for the airport in more than one way. At the time, the runway at the north end was cracked, uneven and failing. On the state’s list of 28 airports to maintain, Cottage Grove was at the bottom of the repair priorities list due to its small size and low traffic. Instead, the state had planned to mark off and abandon 500 unusable feet of the 3,188-foot runway, limiting the kinds of aircraft that could land and further reducing its attractiveness for pilots. “3,000 to 3,500 is normal length,” said Shawn. Such situations can be a death spiral for small air- ports. “When we start cutting your runway, next thing you know fuel isn’t here anymore and then once you don’t have fuel here then traffic really shuts down the state goes, ‘Ehhh, okay,’” said Shawn. “And it happens. Once you start cutting it, you start giv- ing less and less maintenance and then you know it’s over with.” W hen the Kelleys came to the state and In all, the project cost a little more than $100,000 to see its August 2017 ribbon cutting. The Department of Aviation officially calls it a “pilot’s lounge,” but the Kel- leys call it a welcome center. “It’s really a tourist infor- mation center for pilots,” said Nadine. “They can find information, relax, get out of the weather.” Before the center came up, Nadine lamented the state of the airport when bad weath- er would force pilots to land. “There’ve been several pilots over the years who’ve been stuck [here],” she said. “And what do they do? Stand un- der the tree.” Now, with a place to sit down inside and do flight reviews or planning, flight schools from Corvallis and Lane Community College have started using the air- port, the former benefiting from a flight distance of over 50 miles, which qualifies student pilots to log valuable “cross-country” time. As an added bonus to the center, the City of Cottage Grove has provided a cour- tesy car at the center for vis- itors to borrow and take into town. Through donations, the Kelleys gave the city back $140 toward car mainte- nance at the end of last year. The airport’s quaint charm makes it an attractive pit stop for pilots like Californian Elias Murraymetzger, who took a few minutes to chat at the welcome center while waiting for the courtesy car. “This is a lovely airport. Absolutely lovely,” he said. “It’s a shame more people don’t know and understand that there are so many air- ports like this all over the United States — in Oregon and in California.” Murraymetzger is a flight instructor out of San Carlos, Calif. “I run an instruction- al service and my students like to go cross-country, so we pick interesting destina- tions and head out,” he said. “That’s the thrill for me as an instructor, to go to some- place new because it always presents new and interesting challenges for both the in- structor and the student.” The Cottage Grove State Airport is a non-towered air- port, also known as an “un- controlled airport,” which means it lacks air traffic con- trol from a tower. “It’s a different challenge than landing at a larger air- port that has a control tow- er or radar services,” Mur- raymetzger said. “Here it’s self-announced and you ne- gotiate with other pilots in the area.” Such landings are useful skills for student pilots to learn. Students may also benefit from the airport’s newly-im- proved runway. “When we landed, ev- erybody commented how smooth the runway was,” said Murraymetzger. “That’s a special treat because a lot of the runways could use some improvement. … We love it when we see airports that are well-maintained, that have a fresh runway and have ample parking.” On top of the amenities, Murraymetzger appreciated the small-town intimacy that comes with landing at places like Cottage Grove. “I’d make a strong argument for the small airports any day of the week,” he said. As the flight instructor took the courtesy car into town, two new arrivals hopped on the airport’s bicy- cles to seek out nearby points of interest recommended by Shawn. “I’d say about 80 percent of the people who land here go into town,” Shawn said. The airport’s location also puts it within walking dis- tance of several restaurants, which many visitors are said to take advantage of. While it’s difficult to quan- tify the economic impact of the welcome center on the town, fuel sales at the air- port provide a bit of insight into the degree of traffic increase. Since the center’s construction, fuel sales have increased 21 percent and, by the end of the current fiscal year, the airport is reported- ly on track to increase sales another four or five percent. The Kelleys are hopeful those numbers will continue rising. “An airport is an aviation gateway to a city and it can bring in unique economic advantages as well — besides just getting a new bathroom instead of a Porta Potty,” Nadine said. “Our goal is to bring business into Cottage Grove.” Nadine makes sure to pro- vide updated information on Cottage Grove businesses for visitors who drop in, going as far as to pick up menus from new restaurants to add to the center’s catalogue. “The hotels, and shops and Cottage Theatre — anything I can think of I try to bring in to the book so people can see what they can do,” said Nadine. “Now I want to pay the people back. … and give back to the community in that way.” For this particular kind of weather-dependent tourism, the coming summer is an opportunity to see how well the word has spread among the pilot community. “The old Porta Potty was just a bad message: ‘Do your businesses, now go away. 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