§ 14-L — Airport improvement and revitalization

§ 14-1. Airport improvement and revitalization. 1. Notwithstanding any\nother provision of law to the contrary, an airport improvement and\nrevitalization grant and loan program is established. Such program is\nestablished to provide assistance for the revitalization of public use\nairports through funding of projects or portions thereof, for which\nsufficient federal capital assistance and required non-federal matching\nfunding is not available and provided the project is consistent with the\nairport layout plan approved by the department. The funding of capital\nimprovements pursuant to this section shall not be used to provide the\nnon-federal matching share for federal airport capital improvement\ngrants.\n 2. (a) Assistance may consist of grants and loans for capital\nimprovements and technical assistance provided by the department\npursuant to this section.\n Loans and grants pursuant to this section may be made to any municipal\ncorporation, public authority, public benefit corporation or any\ncombination thereof, or to other owners of a public use airport for the\npurpose of improving a public use airport. A county, pursuant to a\nwritten agreement, may act on behalf of one or more cities, towns or\nvillages for the purposes of this section. No such assistance shall be\nprovided to any airport operated by a bi-state authority.\n (b) Improvements pursuant to this section may be made for the\nfollowing purposes:\n (i) construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and\npreservation of capital facilities where the service life of the project\nis at least ten years, and related engineering services provided,\nhowever, that for pavement management projects the service life of the\nproject shall be at least five years;\n (ii) purchase of airport equipment, including navigational aids,\nacquisition of land and easements; and\n (iii) technical assistance for airports including, but not limited to,\npreparation of studies to attract, retain or improve air carrier or air\ncargo services including low fare commercial service air carrier\nservices, airport business plans, activities to inform the general\npublic or public and private organizations of the availability and\neconomic impact of the airport and the aviation services at the airport\non the community.\n (c) Assistance pursuant to this section shall be provided pursuant to\ncontract with the commissioner. Contracts for capital improvements shall\ninsure the availability to the public of any airport improved hereunder\nfor the useful life of such improvement as defined in section sixty-one\nof the state finance law. The commissioner shall establish standards\ngoverning the form, content and submission of applications for\nparticipation in this program. Such standards shall include, but not be\nlimited to, the requirement that, with respect to applications submitted\nby owners of privately-owned airports, the commissioner shall make a\ndetermination that a request submitted by such owners will serve a\npublic purpose and such applications are accompanied by a resolution\nfrom the governing body of the county in which such privately-owned\nairport is located formally endorsing the project for which assistance\nis requested. The commissioner shall not approve an application for a\ngrant or loan unless the applicant can demonstrate commitment of\nsufficient funds to provide the match set forth in paragraph (d) of this\nsubdivision.\n All loans shall be repaid within ten years and bear such rate of\ninterest as shall be established therefor by the commissioner upon the\nissuance of the loan; provided, however, such rate shall not exceed six\npercent per annum. Payments on all loans shall be made to the department\nand credited to the airport improvement and revitalization fund\nestablished pursuant to section eighty-eight-d of the state finance law.\n (d) Matching ratios. (i) Capital grants and loans. State assistance\nfor the program shall cover the following share of the project cost: for\ngeneral aviation airports and commercial service airports with less than\nfifty thousand annual enplanements, up to ninety percent; for commercial\nservice airports with fifty thousand or more but less than seven hundred\nthousand annual enplanements, up to eighty percent; and for commercial\nservice airports with annual enplanements of seven hundred thousand or\nmore, up to seventy percent.\n (ii) Technical assistance. Technical assistance may be up to eighty\npercent of the project cost. Funding for technical assistance shall be\nlimited to general aviation airports and commercial service airports\nwith less than two hundred fifty thousand annual enplanements, provided,\nhowever, that such funding may be granted to general aviation airports\nand commercial service airports, regardless of the number of annual\nenplanements, for the preparation of studies to attract, retain or\nimprove low fare commercial service air carrier services. The entire\ncost of regional or statewide studies conducted by or on behalf of the\ndepartment may be funded.\n (e) Funds for assistance pursuant to this section shall be from the\nairport improvement and revitalization fund established pursuant to\nsection eighty-eight-d of the state finance law. No funds shall be paid\npursuant to this section unless the applicant for assistance provides\nfor the required non-state funded share of the costs of a project.\n (f) No grant or loan to any eligible applicant shall exceed the sum of\ntwo million five hundred thousand dollars, and no part of any such grant\nor loan shall be used for salaries or for services regularly provided by\nthe applicant for administrative costs in connection with such grant or\nloan.\n (g) On or before May first each year, the commissioner shall submit a\nreport on the immediately preceding fiscal year to the governor,\ntemporary president of the senate and speaker of the assembly showing\nthe total funds available for assistance pursuant to this section,\nitemization of assistance provided, and the repayments of loans.\n (h) No provision of this section shall be deemed to make any applicant\nineligible for assistance otherwise available pursuant to section\nfourteen-h or fourteen-k of this article.\n (i) The commissioner may promulgate rules and regulations for the\nimplementation of this section.\n