The Leelanau Township board of trustees unanimously voted to support the Woolsey Memorial Airport Restoration project Tuesday with a maximum of $100,000 to be taken out of existing facility funds.
Township Supervisor Mike McMillan said at this week’s regular board meeting that discussion of the airport’s urgent needs and current state goes back more than four years, noting how previous board trustees invested funds for an architecture firm to assess the building to find a way forward. The township’s monetary support will act as “seed money” so that private donors can start considering contributing to the project in the months ahead.
“I have received a number of emails and a number of letters, and right now they’re numbering 23-1 in favor of doing it,” said McMillan. “I mean just the experiences that they’ve had and the families have had being part of Woolsey over the years, it’s pretty moving… I think what we’re at fault for is not acting faster and failing Woolsey and the public and addressing this when we’ve spent a lot of money and a lot of time on this. To say we need a longer process or more public input — I fail to understand what that means.”
Board trustees also supported providing funds for the airport restoration project. Trustee Gina Harder emphasized the point that this is “a good way to get it started” after working to find a solution to preserve the building for the last several years.
“I feel that the township owns the facility and we’re responsible… I think $100,000 from our facilities fund, which is a restricted fund specifically for our facilities and for these purposes, is a good use of our township dollars… now we have something that’s manageable,” Harder said. “Everything’s been done in the open meetings act, the planning commission has discussed it, the parks and rec committee has discussed it, we’ve asked for feedback from everyone.”
“I personally think it’s very important for the township to keep the property, to maintain the building, and not tear it down,” trustee Denise Dunn said. “It’s a historical spot to me and everybody loves it, and it’s our job, since it was given to the township to take care of it.”
Last month, the board heard a presentation about the current deteriorating state of the airport and possible rehabilitation plans from Mark Krueger, a licensed structural engineer, as well as input from township parks and recreation committee members. Krueger is lending his expertise to the repair and preservation of the terminal and explained how the recently formed group “Saving Woolsey Airport Terminal” (SWAT!) has developed a preliminary scope of work to restore the structural integrity and the weatherproofi ng for the building, with optional work items for further improvements and to enhance safety, longevity, and appearance.
The airport, which originally was a creamery part of Byron Woosley’s dairy farm, was donated to Leelanau Township in 1933 to be an airport in memory of his son, Clinton, who served as a pilot in World War I and was one of the first recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Some of the airport’s critical conditions include the concrete topping in the flat roof viewing area being cracked as the waterproof coating is splitting and debonding, letting water leak into the building. The steel lintels supporting the stone over the window openings are corroding and cracking the mortar, which will soon lead to stones dislodging. And the steel reinforcing in the arched concrete beams are corroding and causing the supporting concrete to break apart.
The preliminary cost estimate to restore the structural integrity and weatherproofing with improvements to safety and durability, ranges from $280,000 to $450,000, however, the inclusion of optional historic restoration improvements would cost an additional $70,000 to $150,000. The overall total cost could be anywhere from $350,000 to $600,000. The township approval to rehabilitate the terminal will expedite SWAT! planning and fundraising, and monetary support will further expedite the fundraising process. Once sufficient funds have been raised, a bid package is to be presented to the board for approval.
While board trustees defended their choice of monetary support, not all members of the public present at the meeting agreed. Leelanau Township resident Elizabeth Mallek pointed out the township board’s current capital improvement plan and other projects that should be prioritized versus Woolsey.
“I think we need to either get public input, have a public hearing, or something, or at least allow the public to give you their feedback of what they see are needs in the community,” Mallek said. “Then you take those needs, whether it’s a board or committee or how you do it… and you allocate some dollars to them, and you prioritize them.”
“I really don’t think that this project to restore and make a monument out of the building is something that the township should get involved in,” commented Allan Dalzell, another Leelanau Township resident. “We just have too many things that we need to spend money on… we don’t use it, my whole lifetime it’s hardly ever gotten used.”
Krueger, the structural engineer helping spearhead restoration efforts, responded to those questioning the fundraising process and explained why urgent action to save the building is necessary.
“We don’t have to worry about this project blossoming into something else… we’re not starting until we have $300,000 of funding available,” Krueger said. “Hopefully we can get that going because the building is continuing to deteriorate, costs continue to escalate, and the longer we wait, we’ll be chasing our tail… I do think just like we like to preserve nature here, we have a built environment, it’s part of Northport, it’s part of who we are, it’s part of what we are — to let that go after 100 years would just be a terrible mistake.”
Trustee Georgie Murray acknowledged that the discussion is “always a hard conversation,” however, there’s reassurance in knowing that there are skilled and knowledgeable people (like Krueger) giving advice throughout the process.
“I don’t think we’re opening our checkbook to $600,000, and that sounds like the fear that people have raised,” Murray said. “I think that we’re acknowledging that that $100,000 is one time — we’re not saying we would revisit it, but we’re not saying we’re on the hook for an unknown amount of money.”
