New infrastructure approved at Cecil Airport

The Jacksonville Aviation Authority board of directors approved infrastructure improvements for Cecil Airport on Monday, a move that the board hopes will spur development.

About $1.25 million in state and local funding will go to installing utilities in two phases on the east side of the Cecil Airport complex — the area that will be used for commercial space operations, said Todd Lindner, senior manager for aviation planning and development at the JAA.

The first phase will include construction for 2,900 linear feet of utilities, including electric, water, sewer and fiber infrastructure. The first phase will also include planning and design for the second phase, which will be construction of an additional 5,750 feet of infrastructure improvements.

The project is necessary for growing the airport, Lindner said.

“On the east side of Cecil, there are great areas to develop,” he said. “There is a lot of acreage over there that is developable, but we don't have utilities over there. To have development we have to have utilities.”

The bill for the project will be split 80-20 between the Florida Department of Transportation and JAA. FDOT is giving a $1 million grant in intermodal funds, and JAA is using $250,000 in the capital budget with money for a hangar project that is no longer moving forward.

The board approved the project and acceptance of the grant, which means the utility improvements will now move ahead. While he wasn't sure on the exact timeline, Lindner said the project will be started in the next three months and construction will go to bid. Doing so means more tenants for Cecil.

“If we're going to have a tenant over there, we have to have utilities,” he said. “The primary purpose of this is to get utilities down to an area that is designated for commercial space operations. That's why we're doing this, to get utilities there for everybody.”