Wasilla commission takes up more land buying Thursday for a runway that would grow by 2,330 feet

Property owners near Wasilla Airport could see their land sought for purchase under a resolution the Wasilla Airport Advisory Commission will consider Thursday, Aug. 20. The resolution backs continued land acquisition tied to a plan to extend the runway to 5,100 feet. The packet names no specific parcels or dollar figures.

City airport planning material from March 2017 states: "This project acquires additional land to expand and protect runway protection zones located off both ends of Runway 4-22." That material also says the extension is not eligible for Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program grants.

The city's 2026 airport master plan does not treat that as settled. It says the final eligibility determination for extending the runway "will depend on the aircraft fleet mix present at the airport at the time of proposed construction and economic development at the airport." Under an FAA guidance letter issued in May 2025 that the plan quotes, a sponsor asking for a longer runway on economic grounds must show a direct, tangible need tied to businesses that actively use the airport, including letters of intent from those businesses stating what the extension would produce in operations and jobs. If the extension is ruled ineligible, the plan says, other funding sources will have to be found.

The existing runway measures 3,700 feet. A later master plan update set the ultimate required length at 6,030 feet, a 2,330-foot extension beyond the current runway. The 2026 plan shows where that number comes from. It forecasts that the aircraft governing the runway's design will shift from the small general aviation planes the airport is built for now to a heavier class, those over 12,500 pounds, and an FAA runway length standard puts the recommended minimum for that class at Wasilla at 5,850 feet, with another 180 feet added for the 18-foot rise between the two ends of the runway. Extending and widening the runway to meet the design standard for those aircraft is listed in the plan as a safety and compliance need.

The same plan puts the land involved at about 71.4 acres within and adjacent to the Runway 04 runway protection zone, along with easements over neighboring airspace, to clear obstructions and control what can be built inside the zones.

In April, city staff said the engineering contract with HDL had ended, a replacement request for proposals was active, and the city was in a holding pattern, "completing existing contracts but unable to begin new projects at this time."

Some residents have criticized the project in public discussion as unnecessary and a threat to the area's rural character. The packet records no public comment on the resolution itself, and the breadth of that criticism is unclear. The master plan's own comment record, gathered across four public meetings between December 2022 and February 2025, documents repeated concerns from neighbors about noise, light and jet fumes reaching homes near the field. "They fly all day and night and disrupt our peace and quiet," reads one entry in the project's comment log dated Sept. 4, 2024, from a resident describing flight school traffic over their house and asking that a future noise study extend as far as Lake Lucille.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Wasilla City Hall, 290 E. Herning Ave. The agenda lists discussion and possible action on the resolution after a scheduled update on the runway extension. The Thursday meeting includes public comment periods before and after new business.