New Civil Air Terminal agreement signed in Dover

DelDOT Secretary Nicole Majeski and Dover Air Force Base Commander Colonel William C. McDonald sign a new 50-year lease for the Civil Air Terminal located on the Air Force Base in Dover surrounded by local leaders. l PHOTO BY JENNIFER ANTONIK

DOVER – Delaware’s Civil Air Terminal housed at the Dover Air Force Base is about to get an upgrade – to the tune of 50 years and a maximum of 25,000 flights.

A new joint use agreement was signed by the United States Department of Defense and Delaware’s Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Thursday, Aug. 15 at the terminal with local leaders, dignitaries and reporters present to witness the momentous occasion.

“This was a decades long process to get us here today. There was a lot of collaboration, perseverance, dedication, determination, all the things, to get us to this point but it was well worth it,” DelDOT Secretary Nicole Majeski told the room filled with supporters just moments before the ceremonial signing of the new agreement.

DelDOT worked closely with the Delaware River & Bay Authority (DRBA) which operates the Civil Air Terminal, as well as the Dover Air Force Base, Delaware Prosperity Partnership, Kent Economy Partnership (KEP), local chamber of commerce leaders and others to fine tune the agreement over the years.

“Prior to this last agreement expiring, a group of stakeholders, visionaries if you will, came together to really look at forward thinking. . . on what this area could be if we were able to expand our usage here at the civil air terminal,” Majeski said. “They have come up with a grand vision that is going to be able to expand economic development in the county and create hundreds if not thousands of jobs for the area. So this is a big deal for us to be here.”

Along with other speakers, she took time to highlight the hard work of DelDOT’s Resiliency & Sustainability Division Director Stephanie Johnson and KEP Executive Director Linda Parkowski, as well as congressional leadership, for making the agreement a reality and one that could work to enhance economic growth in the state.

The terminal, created in 1982 under a partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense and DelDOT through the joint use agreement, was leased for 25 years at a time and could accept a maximum of 13,500 operations which account for both take offs and landings individually. While the terminal has two runways, one of which is one of the only runways in the country long enough to land a space shuttle, future development will be welcomed by the leaders who worked so hard to get this agreement off the ground.

According to Delaware Business Times’ records, the terminal currently has a 1,900-square-foot building, 6-acre aircraft parking ramp, jet fueling facility with a 5,000-gallon fuel storage tank and a 54-foot taxiway, along with the runways clocking in at 10,000 and 13,000 feet long.

The new lease agreement will continue operations at the location in Kent County while increasing the amount of time leased to 50 years and the maximum number of operations to 25,000, a change that Parkowski says could be critical in attracting developers to aid in Kent County’s economic vitality.

“With a 20-year agreement, you couldn’t get a company to commit. You couldn’t get financing for 20 years; you needed those 50 years. We’re actually going to have a designation for the airport, which is going to be big,” she said. “This is a big deal for Delaware. I’m just grateful to be a part of the team. I’m grateful to live in Kent County. I’m grateful I live in Delaware and that we can all celebrate together.”

After all of those years of hard work, the signing of the agreement was also a moment of pride and personal accomplishment for many of the leaders who spoke during the ceremony like Parkowski and Johnson who helped spearhead the collaborative efforts.

“It is very much my honor to be able to finally deliver a successfully initiate a 50-year term agreement,” Johnson said.

She joked that she stumbled upon this project when she had asked for a more challenging project earlier on in her career at DelDOT and her supervisor told her, “I’ve got something for you,” she said.

“Little did I know how much of a challenge it really was going to be,” she added. “As a daughter of a Dover Air Force Base retired veteran, I understood really the importance of this project and it was not just a work assignment. It was really personal to me. My family came here because of Dover Air Force Base but we chose to stay here because of the opportunities that surrounded us. This agreement will further those opportunities for families like mine.”

Johnson, Parkowski, Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons (D-Del.) and other speakers emphasized that the agreement and future development will provide unique opportunities for retiring military personnel and local students in aviation programs, while also driving more business to the area.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am to be here and what a significant event this is today,” Parkowski told the crowd during the ceremony. “A lot of people worked really hard on this and I was just a part of it. . . Right now, we have the bones and this is where the real work comes in. We have the foundation, we have the ingredients, we’re mixing in that concrete truck right now but we’ve got to get it built.”

Dover Air Force Base Commander Colonel William C. McDonald told the Delaware Business Times that the agreement will positively benefit current military personnel and their families, as well.

“This will help our airmen have a connection to the community. . . They will be able to see that firsthand through this. And also, it becomes a resiliency thing, as well. We’ll have more traction here, that means more money coming into the base and that means more support coming into our air field,” he told DBT. “This is one of those things that we really look forward to seeing where it goes, so it’s another way we can really give back to the community and make those bonds.”