Grant County commissioners back pursuit of funding for Marian aeronautical innovation center

Commissioners voted July 6 to endorse a proposal for a Marian Aeronautical Innovation Center and to allow the project team to present to the county council to seek up to $500,000 in local matching funds.

Bill Walders, director of the East Central Indiana Regional Planning District, told the board the project would include an aeronautical innovation center, parking and expanded water and sewer service to the Marion Municipal Airport and aims to leverage U.S. Economic Development Administration funding. Walders said the plan would support flight training, aviation maintenance instruction, simulator training and workforce-development classrooms and estimated the total project at roughly $10 million to $12 million with an 80/20 federal-to-local funding structure.

Walders said the airport-focused project responds to federal and state priorities for aviation and drone testing and noted regional demand for hangar and maintenance capacity. He told commissioners a local contribution ‘‘helps increase that max capacity amount’’ and that the city and airport have committed $1.5 million so far.

Commissioner Stewart moved and Commissioner Polling seconded a motion authorizing the project team to seek council support for up to $500,000 in county funds to be used as local match and to proceed with preparatory steps such as the preliminary engineering report and environmental review. The motion carried on a voice vote.

The presenters said additional partners and philanthropists may increase the local share and that the EDA requires proof of local commitment and preliminary engineering work before awarding funds. Commissioners noted the board itself is not an appropriating body and agreed the next step is a presentation to the county council, which must decide whether to allocate funding.