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Transfer of former air cargo building at airport proceeding
By Ed Runyan
VIENNA
Lawyers for the local Air Force Reserve base are finalizing the base’s acquisition of the former air cargo building on the west side of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport so that it can become a military deployment hub.
Dan Dickten, aviation director at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, says he’s been told the acquisition should take place soon. The process is being handled by the Air Force Reserve Command headquarters.
“We continue to work with the Western Reserve Port Authority and the Air Force Reserve Command headquarters for the best path forward,” Col. James Dignan, commander of the base, said in a statement he dictated to a YARS spokesman from an assignment overseas.
“Ultimately, we trust this local, state and federal partnership will help to solidify the future of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station for years to come,” he said.
Dickten said he believes there will be a written agreement in place at some point related to the facility, but he doesn’t know what it will say.
The facility will provide a place where troops from all branches of the military from Northeast Ohio, western Pennylvania, northwestern New York and nearby parts of West Virginia can deploy to their assignments, Dignan has said in the past.
Another expected use is for the Ohio/Regional Chapters of the American Red Cross and Ohio Emergency Management Agency to use it as a staging area in the event of a civilian emergency in the region.
These uses will enhance the value of the base in a way that could help it survive future reductions in military facilities across the country, Dignan and others have said.
The latest part of the transfer of the building to YARS involved the Federal Aviation Administration, which has signed off on a ground lease for the airport land on which the building rests. The air base is acquiring the building at no cost.
The port authority, which runs the airport, bought the building for about $1 million in 2014 from Millwood Inc., which used it for commercial operations. The building is adjacent to an 11-acre, $11.5 million Federal Aviation Administration funded apron originally envisioned as a facility for commercial cargo shipping. The port authority never found a cargo company wanting to use the facility.