Airport board directs staff to draft RFP for hangar sites after reviewing lease-rate options

The Coffee Airport Authority asked staff to prepare a draft request-for-proposal for several available hangar parcels after a lengthy discussion of how land improvements and airport operations should shape lease terms.

The city manager introduced Tennessee Aeronautics Division resources and the Tennessee Aviation System Plan as the primary public tools for benchmarking economic impacts and lease templates. Airport staff said those resources show formulas for establishing a base rate and that local factors such as installed utilities, taxiway construction and grant-funded site prep raise parcel values.

"When you look at it today, that lot would be worth less because there's no taxiway there," Airport staff said, describing how a new taxiway and connected utilities raise land value and the starting base in TDOT calculations. The presentation noted the authority's previous base of $0.35 per square foot and cited an example airport that set a base starting point at $1.29 per square foot.

Board members debated whether the authority should run a negotiated request-for-proposal process or accept sealed bids strictly based on price. One board member described the trade-offs: a sealed-bid sale might capture the highest land price, while an RFP can weigh operational commitments such as tenant fuel-purchase minimums or guarantees of aviation uses. "You're looking at the whole package... Does this make sense for me to... are they going to build in a certain time frame?" a board member said.

Staff recommended the authority identify three priority parcels for near-term RFPs and prepare a sample RFP for the board and legal counsel to review at the next meeting. Legal counsel participation was requested; staff said Lauren and Ginger would be involved in drafting and review. The board agreed to the plan to return with a draft at the following meeting rather than issuing an RFP immediately.

The conversation also covered aeronautical-use restrictions and FAA land-release procedures for any non-aeronautical proposals. Airport staff noted there is a 20-acre parcel on the field already FAA-approved as non-aeronautical that could accommodate uses not tied to aviation, but any change to aeronautical land would require a formal FAA land-release process.

Next steps: staff will prepare a draft RFP and sample evaluation criteria (covering build timeline, developer experience, and operational commitments such as fuel-purchase minimums) for legal review and board consideration at the next meeting.