1 I The initial step in the preparation of the Coolidge Municipal Airport’s role in the Airport Master Plan for Coolidge regional, state, and national aviation Municipal Airport is the collection of systems, and development that has taken information pertaining to the airport and the place recently at the airport. area it serves. The information summarized in this chapter will be used in subsequent Population and other significant analyses in this study. It includes: socioeconomic data which can provide an indication of future trends that could Physical inventories and descriptions of influence aviation activity at the airport. the facilities and services currently provided at the airport, including the A review of existing local and regional regional airspace, air traffic control, and plans and studies to determine their aircraft operating procedures. potential influence on the development and implementation of the Airport Background information pertaining to Master Plan. the City of Coolidge, Pinal County, and surrounding areas, including The information in this chapter was descriptions of the regional climate and obtained from several sources, including on-site surface transportation systems. inspections, interviews with City staff and airport tenants, airport records, related studies, the 1-1 Federal Aviation Administration population of 350,558 in 2008. Pinal (FAA), the Arizona Department of County contains part of the Tohono Transportation (ADOT) – Aeronautics O’odham National Native American Group, and a number of internet sites. Reservation, Gila River Indian Reser- A complete listing of the data sources vation, San Carlos Apache Indian is provided at the end of this chapter. Reservation, and Ak-Chin Indian Community. The geography and economy of the County can be divided AIRPORT into two regions. The eastern portion CHARACTERISTICS is inhabitated with mountainous ter- rain lending itself to mining and mil- The purpose of this section is to sum- ling. The western area, including the marize various studies and data col- City of Coolidge, is made up primarily lected to provide an understanding of of desert valleys and irrigated agricul- the characteristics of the airport and ture. the regional area. Within this section is a description of the airport setting, The City of Coolidge has a diversified airport ownership and management, economic base that includes manufac- the airport’s development and capital turing, trade, and services. It is also improvement history, the ground the commercial center of Arizona’s cot- access systems near the airport, land ton industry. The recent expansion use and zoning around the airport, the and diversification of the local area local climate, and the airport’s role. has been facilitated by its location in a major growth corridor between Phoe- nix and Tucson, near the junction of AIRPORT SETTING Interstate Highways 8 and 10. Coo- lidge is home to the Casa Grande As illustrated on Exhibit 1A, Coo- Ruins National Monument, which pre- serves an ancient Hohokam farming lidge Municipal Airport is located ap- community and “Great House.” proximately five miles southeast of Created as the nation’s first archeolog- downtown Coolidge. Situated on ap- ical reserve in 1892, the site was de- proximately 1,268 acres of land at clared a National Monument in 1918. 1,574 feet above mean sea level (MSL), the airport serves as one of five gener- al aviation public-use airport facilities in Pinal County. OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT The City of Coolidge is located in west- central Pinal County. Pinal County Coolidge Municipal Airport is owned, encompasses approximately 5,374 operated, and maintained by the City square miles of land in south-central of Coolidge. The City’s Aviation Plan- Arizona. Coolidge, with an estimated ner is responsible for the day-to-day population of 12,311 residents, made administration and operation of the up 3.5 percent of the total County airport. 1-2 -1A-8/19/09 Cave Creek GILA 06MP12 MARICOPA 87 Sun City Glendale Phoenix Scottsdale Avondale Mesa Buckeye Tempe 60 Chandler Superior 202 60 79 177 10 87 PINAL Florence 387 Gila Bend CoolidgeCoolidge COOLIDGE Casa Grande 287 MUNICIPAL AIRPORT 87 Eloy 79 E Javelina COOLIDGE N Bellrose St 10 Coolidge Ave. E Kenilworth Rd N Nafziger Rd 79 N England Rd Marana Southern Pacific E Martin Rd E Cactus Forest Rd E Bartlett Rd N Clemans Rd N Coolidge Airport Rd N Christensen Rd COOLIDGE Tucson MUNICIPAL 287 AIRPORT 87 E Randolph Rd N Wheeler Rd Sells Fast Track Rd Fast Track E Kleck Rd Green Valley 19 N Willy Rd N Sunspot Pl E Story Rd Fannin-Mcfarland Aquaduct Exhibit 1A LOCATION MAP AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT Today, Coolidge Municipal Airport has HISTORY a full service fixed base operator (FBO) that provides a wide range of Development of the present-day Coo- general aviation services. Coolidge lidge Municipal Airport began in the Municipal Airport has also become a early 1940s by the U.S. Department of base for aviation businesses that spe- the Army. Originally constructed as cialize in parachute training opera- an air transport command base, Coo- tions as well as aerial disaster relief. lidge Army Airfield served as an aux- iliary operating base for Williams Field during World War II. The origi- CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT nal airfield was constructed with three HISTORY runways in a triangular configuration. Of these three runways, two remain: To assist in funding capital improve- Runway 17-35 and Runway 5-23. ments at Coolidge Municipal Airport, Numerous support facilities were con- the FAA and ADOT – Aeronautics structed, of which a large conventional Group has provided funding assis- hangar still remains. On January 19, tance to the City of Coolidge through 1950, the airfield was transferred to the Airport Improvement Program Pinal County since the airfield was no (AIP) and the Arizona Aviation Fund. longer needed by the U.S. Department The AIP is funded through the Avia- of the Army. Pinal County owned and tion Trust Fund, which was estab- operated the airport until March 2, lished in 1970 to provide funding for 1959, when the City of Coolidge offi- aviation capital investment programs cially obtained ownership of the air- (aviation development, facilities and port from the County. equipment, and research and devel- opment). The Trust Fund also fin- From 1962 until July 1992, operations ances a portion of the operation of the at the airport were dominated by FAA. It is funded by user fees, taxes training activities of T-37 jet aircraft on airline tickets, aviation fuel, and at Williams Air Force Base. The Air various aircraft parts. The Arizona Force had a lease agreement with the Aviation Fund is supplied by taxes le- City of Coolidge for four parcels of vied by the state on aviation fuel, land and joint use of the main run- flight property, aircraft registration ways and taxiways in return for the tax, and registration fees. continued maintenance and upkeep of the main runway and taxiway. In ad- Table 1A summarizes more than $1.1 dition, they constructed several facili- million in capital improvement ties along the runway and apron to projects undertaken at Coolidge Mu- support their operations. The Air nicipal Airport since the completion of Force lease was terminated in July the previous Master Plan in 1997. 1992 and Williams Air Force Base was closed in 1993. 1-3 TABLE 1A Recent Capital Improvement Projects Coolidge Municipal Airport AIP Grant ADOT Grant Total Number Number Project Description Grant Funds Rehabilitate aircraft parking apron; Install 4 E6F52 PAPI; Miscellaneous airfield lighting; Demolition $969,424 of VASI. 5 E9F04 Airport master plan update. $156,377 Total Grant Funds $1,125,801 Source: Airport records ACCESS AND CIRCULATION tion of Coolidge Airport Road are ul- timately planned to be widened to six The airport is located approximately lanes to accommodate increased traffic six miles south of the Coolidge- flows. The ultimate recommended Florence Highway (Arizona Highway functional road classifications in the 287), six miles east of Arizona High- region are depicted on Exhibit 1B. way 87, and seven miles west of Ari- According to this recommended road zona Highway 79. Interstate Highway classification plan, a proposed north- 10, which connects Phoenix and Tuc- south freeway corridor has been iden- son, can be accessed from the airport tified from Apache Junction to Coo- by heading south on Highway 87 or lidge. This proposed freeway is heading northwest on Highway 287 aligned immediately west of Coolidge and connecting with Highway 387. Municipal Airport. If this freeway alignment were to become reality, Coolidge Airport Road, a two-lane along with easier roadway access to roadway, provides vehicle access to the airport, it could bring significant the airport from the north, where it economic development to areas adja- intersects with Kenilworth Road. Ke- cent to the airport. nilworth Road is a two-lane roadway, which becomes Cactus Forest Road east of the intersection with Coolidge LAND USE Airport Road. Kenilworth Road pro- vides a transportation route to the The land surrounding Coolidge Munic- City of Coolidge going west, where it ipal Airport is currently owned by the turns into Coolidge Avenue and Arizo- Arizona State Land Department or the na Highway 79 to the east. Bureau of Land Management and is under the jurisdiction of Pinal County. According to the 2008 Coolidge- A land use plan, shown on Exhibit Florence Regional Transportation 1C, was prepared in the 2007 City of Study, the traffic flow along Kenil- Coolidge