The Hollister Municipal Airport has received a sizeable grant from the Federal Aviation Administration that official say will help update the facility’s master plan.
Here is the press release from Congressman Sam Farr’s office, announcing the grant:
“Today, Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) announced that Hollister Municipal Airport was awarded $230,643 from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The airport began a major runway renovation project last year and this grant will provide funding to update the airport master plan and airport layout to better serve travelers.
“Hollister Airport is not only an economic engine for San Benito County and the Central Coast, it’s also a first-class facility,” said Rep. Farr. “I’m very pleased to work with Mike Chambless and the FAA to support this airport and these are important investments that benefit the entire region.”
In October 2014, Rep. Farr secured $3.1 million from the FAA to begin the major runway restoration project at Hollister Municipal Airport. He later delivered $5.8 million from the FAA in September 2015 to complete the project. Portions of the runway dated back to World War II.
The City of Hollister owns and operates the Hollister Municipal Airport and hosts a number of airport-related businesses. The airport is also the location of the CalFire Air Attack Base, which plays an important role in suppressing wildfire in six counties.”
BenitoLink met June 29 with Chambless to discuss what the grant will mean for the Hollister Airport. “We’ve been working on getting the grant for a while, but I was surprised to hear we got it today,” he said. “I had a consultant in my office just yesterday asking ‘Where are we?’ with this, and then today we got the good news.”
“What we need to do [with the grant] is that every so often we need to update a document called the Airport Master Plan, and that sets us up for future grants. It’s all going to be going towards administrative work, but it’s very important.”
A more comprehensive look at the airport and it’s plans for future development will appear on BenitoLink soon.