Clearwater Air Park staff propose $100,000 FDOT JACIP grant to fund comprehensive geotechnical survey

Airport staff told the Clearwater Air Park Advisory Board they intend to seek an FDOT JACIP grant to pay for a consolidated geotechnical survey covering the entire air park. An airport staff member (Speaker 5) said the preliminary request amount discussed was $100,000 and that the consolidated approach would provide one central dataset for terminal work, corporate hangars, parking-lot expansion and pavement projects.

“This way, we have 1 central location … all the survey data we need, all the geotech and other relevant data compiled,” the staff member said, noting FDOT agreed to separate that work into a single grant rather than fragmenting it across individual project grants. Board members and staff emphasized the cost-saving rationale: doing borings and geotechnical work once for the whole park avoids repeating small surveys for each project.

Board members asked about the useful life of surveys; the staff member said typical geotechnical surveys are good for three years, and that the airport plans to begin projects within that period. The board also discussed examples of the savings: instead of multiple $8,000 surveys for separate features, a single, standardized survey would reduce per-project design work and make future design phases more efficient.

Board discussion placed the proposed survey in the context of a broader grants strategy. Speakers referenced state funding rules and the airport’s practice of breaking larger projects into phases to leverage different state grant match ratios (noted in the meeting as 80/20 for some design phases and 50/50 for some construction phases). Speakers emphasized that Fly USA is contributing capital on several projects and that the city must be the formal applicant for FDOT grants because of property ownership.

Next steps: staff said they are in the early stages of the grant application and will refine the cost estimate. The board did not take a formal vote during this meeting on the grant application; staff indicated they will return with more details as the application progresses.