By Harold Kitching
Casa Grande Dispatch
If the land brokerage firm hired by the city of Casa Grande to market lots at the city airport can persuade the Federal Aviation Administration to allow through-the-fence access to the runways, the land could be sold for three to four times its normal value, one of the principals of the brokerage firm says.
The city’s contract with Land Advisors Organization, which has teamed with Airport Property Specialists, received final approval from the City Council on Jan. 7. Land Advisors is represented local- ly by Kirk McCarville, a property developer and former Casa Grande City Council member.
The 26 lots cover about 40 acres at the city’s airport, McCarville said. Lots could be reconfigured if a company wants a larger area. As envisioned, a new access road could be built that would allow planes to taxi from the runway into hangars on the properties.
The sticking point at the moment is the FAA. McCarville said the FAA is generally opposed to such developments, both for security reasons and because taxpayer funds have been used to make major improvements at the airport. The FAA, he said, has the position that public money should not be used as a way to enhance private development.
The city’s vision is to have a variety of operations employing more people, rather than carving the land up into two or three parcels and sell- ing to companies that require fewer workers.
