The state has signed a 50-year lease with the U.S. Army at Kawaihāpai Airfield — formerly known as Dillingham Airfield.
The state has been asking the Army for a long-term lease for years, but the parties have not come to an agreement until now.
Gov. Josh Green was happy the airfield will remain open for the 26 businesses it houses on Oʻahu's North Shore. The 50-year lease will also allow the state to make long-term improvements to the property.
Before, the Army would only lease the airfield in five-year increments. Last year, the state told the Army that if they could not come to an agreement, it would have to stop operating the military-owned property.
The new agreement started over the weekend.
One key point of contention over the years has been the management of the water system. The infrastructure was neglected, which originally caused the Federal Aviation Administration to not let the state invest money into the system.
"But we did it anyway," said Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen. "There's no way we're going to allow a million gallons of water to be lost from our system a month, it just doesn't work. So we worked with the FAA to make sure that we could justify the use in that area."
"Now the system itself, when we start moving forward, there are going to be upgrades based on metering for the different users of the system. There's going to be upgrades to pipes that are off the, the airport system that weren't repaired as part of our work."
While the state paid to fix the original leaks, Sniffen explained the rest would be funded through federal grants. The upgrades will include a dip tank, which helicopters can use to dump water to suppress fires.
Aqua Engineers will operate the water system, which supports not only the airfield but about 30 users — including the YMCA's Camp Erdman.
