WILLMAR -- The Willmar City Council's Finance Committee has approved the $28,350 budget for exterior upgrades to the old Willmar airport terminal. The work was required by the Federal Aviation Administration and Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office leading up to FAA's release of the former airport land to the city for industrial park development.
The preservation measures are required after the building was listed as eligible to the National Register of Historic Places as a condition of FAA's release of the old airport site to the city for industrial development.
The contract with Corner Stone Construction Services of Willmar had previously been approved by the council's Community Development Committee to perform basic maintenance and ensure that the historic features of the old terminal do not continue to deteriorate.
The budget approved by the Finance Committee called for pressure washing loose paint on the walls, closing and sealing rotten windows with plywood, removing old conduit and pipe from walls, caulking or grouting larger holes, and painting walls with two coats of Loxon exterior waterproofing system in the office building and hangar building.
The hangar preservation work is being paid by revenue raised from the local option sales tax. Improvement and redevelopment of the old airport site is one of the four items that the sales tax referendum question said would be financed by the sales tax.
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"This is crazy,'' said committee member Tim Johnson of the preservation work. "We are being blackmailed.''
