Originally published in 1994
The TxDOT Aviation Division, in recognition that adequate airport infrastructure is an essential component for attracting economic development, determined that a pilot program to assist communities in developing projects that would provide tangible and measurable economic impacts would be beneficial both to local communities and to the state as a whole. On May 25th, the Texas Transportation Commission approved Aviation division staff recommendations to award economic incentive grants to the cities of Georgetown and Gainesville and to Gillespie County.
Proposals were initially received from fifteen airport sponsors and were evaluated by Aviation Division staff with the assistance of the Department of Commerce. The selection was based on: evidence of community support, including compliance with existing grant conditions and responsiveness to airport inspection letters; potential economic benefit of the candidate project on the local economy, including the number of permanent jobs projected to be created; consistency of the project with existing plans; evidence of the commitment and ability of project sponsors to provide more than the minimum required share of allowable project costs; degree of expectation of successful implementation of the project; and overall perception of the proposal.
We are optimistic that this program will be successful and become a permanent pro- gram that will fund new projects each year.