Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego call on FAA to finalize land release at Kingman Municipal Airport

(KYMA) - Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) wrote a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Monday.

In the letter, Sens. Kelly and Gallego called on FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford to "work with the City of Kingman to finalize a long-delayed land release at Kingman Municipal Airport," unlocking approximately $250 million in investment and supporting economic development in northwest Arizona.

"The City has worked with the FAA for over six years to complete this process, which would support approximately $250 million in investment at the airport," the senators wrote. "Despite working in good faith with the FAA for years, the City is now being asked to undertake additional bureaucratic steps by the FAA, requiring the City to incur additional costs and needlessly delay the land transfer. We urge the FAA to work with the City of Kingman to resolve any outstanding issues to complete this land release in a timely manner."

Also in the letter, the senators raised concerns regarding changing appraisal and payment requirements conflicting with prior agreements reached with the FAA's Phoenix Airport District Office.

"We urge FAA to re-evaluate the prior decisions made by ACO rather than requiring the City to acquire new appraisals at the city’s expense, which will further delay the process of seeing the deed release," they wrote. "If FAA determines that an additional appraisal is needed, we urge that the ACO act expeditiously to work with the City to identify an acceptable appraiser who has experience valuing properties in Kingman. Lastly, we urge FAA to honor the arrangement the Airport and ADO reached regarding a payment schedule for the deed release."

To read the letter in full, click here.