As Paulding County’s airport works on an expansion to prepare for commercial airline service, it is getting a $1 million loan from a county authority for airport construction.
The Industrial Building Authority in Paulding approved the one-year, no-interest loan to the Paulding County Airport Authority at a special called meeting on Friday.
The move comes after two Paulding residents filed a legal challenge seeking to block court approval of $3.4 million in bonds for a taxiway expansion in preparation for airline service. A hearing on the matter is set for Dec. 2.
The legal challenge to the airport’s plans are coming from Paulding residents who oppose airline service out of concerns about noise, traffic and environmental issues.
Work on the taxiway has already begun, and the million-dollar loan to the airport is to “keep the airport projects moving” while the airport decides on alternate funding to complete projects, according to Paulding airport director Blake Swafford. Among the options, he said, are commercial financing or temporary funding from Silver Comet, the airport’s business partner which leases the terminal.
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