Deer Park Airport sets sights on growth

Penni Loomis runs the Deer Park Airport, and she has her hands full doing so.

But adjacent to the airstrip are 450 acres she would like developed by companies with jobs that would keep the community’s graduates working nearby instead of Spokane. Loomis figures it will take more than $8 million in road upgrades and new water and sewer mains to make that vision a possibility.

So Loomis and the airport’s board hope to tap Economic Development Administration grants that have funded $15 million in Spokane-area community development efforts, most recently $1.5 million in infrastructure improvements at the Cheney Research and Industrial Park. Sirti has benefited to the tune of $4.5 million.

Greater Spokane Inc. screens the grant applications and updates annually a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy that identifies community goals and projects that will help accomplish them. The document, about 60 pages, is as compact a summation of Spokane-area resources as you will find.

If you are a public or nonprofit group looking for EDA money, your strategy is key to getting your proposal past the federal agency’s Seattle office.

Jacob Macias, an EDA economic development representative in Seattle, says the agency wants to support Greater Spokane Inc. planning efforts, which it helps fund.

“We’re not going to get involved in a project that is contradictory to what a community is trying to do,” he says.

Macias says the Sirti Technology Center is an extraordinary example of EDA capabilities.

The agency helped take the building from conception to construction, he says. That was a $3 million investment. Then EDA provided $1.5 million for a revolving loan fund.

Normally, Macias says, the agency would not focus so many resources on one project. “We try to spread the money around,” he says.

Macias says this year there will be more to spread.

The economic stimulus bill set aside an additional $150 million for EDA, of which $33 million was allocated to the Seattle office. Although the bill says the money must be spent by Sept. 30, 2010, Macias says the Seattle office will have the money out the door a year earlier because projects in excess of $33 million are backlogged.

Greater Spokane Business Development Director Robin Toth says groups seeking EDA help should know upfront that delay is built into the funding process. Even if you get into the project pipeline, that does not mean the scrutiny has ended and the check is in the mail, she says.

“It’s a multiyear process,” she says. “You have to be persistent.”

The Deer Park Airport is on the Greater Spokane Inc. list of recommended projects, along with the proposed Armed Forces & Aerospace Museum, St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute, and additional University District investment.

Loomis knows the airport has a long way to go. She’s already met with EDA officials in Seattle and is working to comply with their suggestions. With a mix of public and private landowners, getting an application and matching money together will be a challenge.

But, Loomis says, “We think we have a competitive project.”

The inspiration is there. Now comes the perspiration.