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The Georgetown Executive Airport will soon allow for 50-year land lease terms, following Georgetown City Council members' initial approval of the policy change in March.
What it means
The current airport policy allows 30-year leases, and the Federal Aviation Administration does not allow land leases at airports over 50 years.
After receiving final approval, the new airport policy will allow leases up to the maximum duration allowed by the FAA or Texas Department of Transportation.
Public Works Director Eric Johnson said the change will help sign more land leases because it allows developers more time to make a return on their investment and, in turn, generates more profit for the city.
“That could translate to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for the next 30-50 years,” Johnson said.
Some context
Most commonly, tenants lease land from an airport to construct hangars or other aviation-related facilities.
There have been no new land lease developments at the airport since 2020, and only two hangars have been developed in the last 16 years. Right now, the city has five active letters of intent to lease land.
In case you missed it
Johnson proposed three changes to the airport policy at a Sept. 9 City Council workshop, including the change to the land leases.
The history
The Georgetown Executive Airport opened in 1945. It provides air transportation for uses other than commercial, like medical flights, business aviation and military flights.
The airport is also a national reliever airport, which relieves congestion at larger commercial airports, as designated by the FAA in 2023.
Consisting of 640 acres, it provides aviation fuel, avionics sales and aircraft maintenance. There are more than 25 aeronautical businesses based at the airport.
