Economic Development Projects

August 4, 2013 By Luke Schmidt

Pikeville – Pike County (KY) Regional Airport Air Service Project

Introduction

In 2010, L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC was retained by a trio of clients (the City of Pikeville; the Pikeville – Pike County Airport Board; and, the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce) for the purpose of developing commercial air service at the Pikeville – Pike County Regional Airport (PBX).

PBX is a modern airport which sits on top of a mountain on land which has been reclaimed from an old coal mine. PBX has a 5,300 foot long runway with a full Instrument Landing System (ILS). PBX will serve a large portion of the Central Appalachian coalfield, with a catchment area population of 345,000 people in nine Kentucky counties, three Virginia counties and one county in West Virginia.

Project Scope

Luke Schmidt has worked closely with the principals from each of these organizations in moving this project forward, in what has been a true team effort, with significant milestones having been achieved to date, including:

Developed new market profile
Scheduled/conducted meetings with several potential airlines
Facilitated the award of a $750,000 USODT Small Community Air Service Development grant to support the new service
Facilitated the award of a $1,000,000 Kentucky multi-county coal severance tax grant to support the new service
Secured resolutions of support for the Kentucky coal severance tax grant from Floyd County (KY) Fiscal Court and Pike County Fiscal Court
Called on numerous legislators from Eastern Kentucky, the governor’s chief of staff and the secretary of the cabinet for economic development to garner support for the Kentucky coal severance tax grant

Project Progress to Date

Significant progress has been made on this project, including the successful recruitment of new commercial air service to PBX. Accomplishments include:

Secured a commitment for service (public charter flights) from Corporate Flight Management (Smyrna, TN) and Public Charters, Inc. (Scranton, PA)
CFM will operate as the Direct Air Carrier and will be responsible for all flying aspects of the project (aircraft, flight crews, etc.)
PC will operate as the Indirect Air Carrier and will be responsible for all non-flying aspects of the project (ticket sales, aircraft ground handling, etc.)
Facilitated the development and execution of an Air Service Agreement (between the City of Pikeville and PC) and an Airport Use Agreement (between the Pikeville – Pike County Airport Board and PC) to support the new commercial air service
The new service will be operated by Corporate Flight Management dba Appalachian Air
The new service will connect PBX passengers to the Nashville International Airport (BNA) and to the nine airlines which currently serve BNA with 50 nonstop markets, including low-fare carrier Southwest Airlines, which has a major presence at BNA
The daily service will be operated with state of the art British Aerospace BAE Jetstream J32 aircraft
The Jetstream J32 is a pressurized, 19-passenger aircraft with a stand-up cabin, two pilots and which cruises at 265 MPH up to 25,000 feet

The new service was formally announced during a ceremony at PBX airport on November 6, 2013, which was attended by Governor Steve Beshear, Congressman Hal Rogers, Pikeville City Manager Donovan Blackburn, State Senator Ray Jones, State Representative Leslie Combs and over 300 community leaders
In a statement, Governor Beshear said, “Passenger air service will open new opportunities for much of Eastern Kentucky. What has historically been one of the more difficult regions of the Commonwealth to reach will now be less than an hour and a half flying time from connecting to the global air system in Nashville.”
In a statement, Congressman Rogers stated, “As we face a new era in Eastern Kentucky and work to expand our industrial portfolio, this commercial air service launches us into the competitive market. With new economic challenges ahead, we have to access greater opportunities, embrace new technology and create innovative strategies to shape our future, and this air service will provide unprecedented access to this important energy producing region.”

This ongoing project has the potential to substantially impact future economic development efforts in Eastern Kentucky, Southwestern West Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia and will assist in creating new jobs.

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August 3, 2013 By Luke Schmidt

Somerset – Pulaski County (KY) Development Foundation Airline Service Project

Introduction

Since 2010, the Somerset – Pulaski County Development Foundation has been leading a community effort to restore scheduled commercial airline service at the Lake Cumberland Regional Airport (SME) in Somerset. L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC was retained for this purpose.

SME is a modern airport which serves a large part of Southern Kentucky, with a total catchment area population of 413,000 people in 16 counties. SME has a 5,800 foot long runway and a full Instrument Landing System (ILS).

Project Scope

Since starting on this project, Luke Schmidt has worked closely with SPCDF’s Executive Director and various community leaders. Project accomplishments to date include:

Developed new market profile
Scheduled/conducted meetings with several potential airlines
Conducted two market surveys of business and industry leaders in the Somerset, London and Corbin areas
Developed USDOT Small Community Air Service Development grant proposal (2013)

This ongoing project has the potential to substantially impact future economic development efforts in the Somerset region and assist in creating new jobs.

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August 2, 2013 By Luke Schmidt

Hardin County (KY) United

Introduction

Hardin County United (HCU) was formed following the conclusion of the Hardin County Vision Project in 2010. HCU was formed by several community leaders that participated in the vision project and who wanted to continue with the process. HCU was formed primarily to address each of the 24 strategic goals which were adopted in the visioning process, assign a priority to each goal and develop an implementation strategy for each of the goals selected for implementation. L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC followed-up its involvement with the vision project by providing management and consulting services to HCU.

Organization Structure

HCU started with a Steering Committee comprised of around 60 people. The organization was further organized with three subcommittees: Community Development, Education and Governance.

Catalyst for Change

Early on, Luke Schmidt worked with the HCU Steering Committee and developed a logo and a web site, so that the organization would have a central theme and also a portal for information on its projects to be made available to all citizens.

Since its inception, HCU has served as an agent for change. Following-up on the overall vision project theme of unification and the elimination of duplication in the community, HCU Community Development Subcommittee members supported the merger of four previously existing chambers of commerce (Elizabethtown, Radcliff, Vine Grove and West Point) into one new unified chamber – the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce – now one of the five largest chambers in Kentucky.

Community Development Subcommittee members also supported change in the community’s alcoholic beverage laws.

Three petitions were filed in Elizabethtown, Radcliff and Vine Grove (the county’s three largest cities) for local option elections to be held on the same date. Each campaign called for each community to go “wet,” meaning that individuals would gain the opportunity to purchase alcoholic beverages either by the package or by the drink.

HCU was one of the first organizations to endorse each campaign.

Each campaign was successful, thereby achieving one of the primary goals of the 24 strategic goals which were established during the Hardin County Vision Project.

The Education Subcommittee developed and implemented the first-ever mapping campaign of all educational offerings in the community

The goal of this project was to identify every educational offering currently available to all residents in Hardin County. The process started with pre-natal care classes for expectant parents, continued with early childcare development, Kindergarten, K – 8, high school and post-secondary offerings.

The report provided by the Education Subcommittee will be used by economic development professionals as part of their pitch to business and industrial prospects who are interested in expanding to the community.

The Education Subcommittee also embraced the idea of an Area Technology Center (one of the vision project’s 24 strategic goals). Early in 2013, a partnership consisting of the Central Kentucky Community Foundation, Elizabethtown Community & Technical College, Hardin County Schools and Western Kentucky University announced the development of the new Early College & Career Center, which will be located adjacent to the ECTC campus and open for business in 2014.

HCU’s Governance Subcommittee launched an initiative first designed to look into the potential benefits of unified government in Hardin County (again, following-up on the overall unification theme from the visioning process) with its Hardin County Unified Government Project.

L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC was retained to conduct extensive research into unified government. This included site visits to communities that had previously unified, interviews with key groups, an analysis of existing local government structures in Hardin County, etc.

HCU presented the findings of the research project to the community with a series of 24 forums around the county. HCU worked with Members of the Kentucky General Assembly to strengthen the existing statute on unified government in the Commonwealth. HCU also started preliminary work with local elected officials to establish a Unification Review Commission for the purpose of drafting a plan for unified government to be presented to citizens for review and approval.

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July 26, 2013 By admin

Addington Field – Elizabethtown (KY) Regional Airport Airline Service Project

Introduction

The Elizabethtown (KY) Airport Board (EAB) operates the city’s municipal airport, Addington Field – Elizabethtown Regional Airport (EKX). The EAB decided to respond to numerous inquiries received from area citizens and businesses regarding the establishment of passenger airline service at EKX.

The EAB initially retained Luke Schmidt and L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC for the purpose of conducting a market feasibility study to confirm the presence of a viable passenger airline service market in Central Kentucky. Following the completion of the feasibility study, the EAB elected to proceed with the project to formally recruit an airline to EKX and again retained L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC to direct the project

Project Scope

The Market Feasibility Study (276 pages) included detailed demographic research into each of the 24 counties in the regional air service market. Highlights of the Study (and the updated market profile which followed) include:

Analysis of Fort Knox travel patterns
Summary of Fort Knox market (current Commands and incoming Commands)
Projected annual passenger enplanements by developing the Origin & Destination Study
Detailed demographic information on Elizabethtown Metro area
Analysis of regional driving distances, costs and times to all regional commercial airports

Additional work on the project continued, focusing on the following areas:

Develop communications/promotion strategy for the airport
Develop regional support for passenger airline service
Address airport infrastructure issues
Recruit airlines to EKX

Project milestones include:

Re-branded the airport by changing the airport’s name to reflect new regional mission
Developed new airport logo and related collateral materials
Developed new airport Web site
Developed concept design for new passenger terminal
Developed an unprecedented level of regional support for new passenger service at EKX along with key support at Fort Knox (included 72 resolutions and 200+ letters of support from government jurisdictions and chambers of commerce from 22 counties in support of EKX’s USDOT Small Community Air Service Development grant proposal)
Began efforts to develop contract military airfares
Started airline recruitment process with formal and ongoing discussions with all major network carriers and one low-cost carrier
Attended the airline industry JumpStart Conference in Pittsburgh
Established a schedule of airline airport charges and fees

Luke Schmidt also worked with the EAB to address airport infrastructure issues. Luke Schmidt facilitated initial meetings with former Congressman Ron Lewis for the purpose of securing funding for an Instrument Landing System (ILS) Glide Slope (which will be installed in 2013). This included multiple trips to Memphis, TN with airport board members to meet with FAA regional officials.

The EAB commissioned a set of concept drawings for a new passenger terminal.

In 2012 and in response to this project, the runway at EKX received a significant pavement overlay which now will allow for sustained operations of 76-passenger Canadair CRJ-900 regional jets for the next 15 years (along with occasional Boeing 737/757 charter flights).

Summary

Significant progress has been made towards the attainment of the goals set forth with this project. This ongoing project has the potential to substantially impact future economic development efforts in Central Kentucky and will assist in creating new jobs.

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