Before you go out tearing up the current runway, make sure to look at a couple of issues:
- some states have their own obstacle clearance and licensing requirements for public use airports (separate from FAA criteria). This strip looks like it is a bit between the trees. The airport may already have a waiver, if you build a 'new' runway that gets closer to the trees, you may have to renew that waiver (or cut down trees)
- Anytime you start paving over sizeable areas, you may run into stormwater management issues. When this airport was originally paved, nobody gave a hoot, but nowadays if you lay down an acre of new pavement, you may have to put in ditches , oil separators and stormwater ponds. Litigation around a stormwater permit held up a local runway project (replacing a 3000x50ft asphalt strip with 4200x75ft concrete at 2W5) for 18 months. Some enviro-nut from 200miles away with deep pockets kept holding it up under some bogus theory that the new runway would eradicate the bay crabs or something.
- Zoning: What zoning does the airport have right now, is it operated under a conditional use permit (e.g. operating a commercial enterprise like an airport on something zoned ag or conservation). Just 'repairing' or putting a new overlay onto the existing base may not require much involvement by the local zoning authority while 'new construction' certainly would.
- What are you trying to achieve by widening the runway. Do you expect to attract more or 'better' traffic (that buys jetfuel by the 100s of gallons) ? The based pilots are probably quite used to the existing runway.
- Rather than making the paved runway wider, consider moving the runway lights 10ft out and creating 'shoulders' that are grass or compacted gravel/grass. Nobody really needs more than 40ft for takeoff, if you have well maintained gravel shoulders it takes away most of the apprehension about having a wheel roll off the pavement.
- You are not really in snow-country there, right ? Consider installing frangible low-profile runway lights. That way an excursion into the weeks causes a bit less anxiety and potential for damage.
- While the airport is privately owned, the FAA does at times fund improvement projects at such airports. This is a major paperwork nightmare and the paperwork and consultant fees are bound to be higher than what it would cost to just overlay the existing runway, but once the FAA comes in with funding, you do get the gold-plated goverment version with a 3ft deep crushed rock base and snazzy new runway lights. The aforementioned project of the new runway at 2W5 is almost exclusively FAA funded, but this has been in the works for decades.
- Before you purchase an airport, have someone refer you to a psychiatrist and get your head examined
With proper soil types and drainage that is the cheapest option.
