Republic file photo Aerial photo of former Walesboro airport property taken in 2012, when discussions about developing it for a commerce park grew serious. Woodside Industrial Park, which has its first tenant open in 1981, can be seen in the foreground.
The Columbus Board of Aviation Commissioners recently tabled a request to approve a land lease related to a test track used by Cummins at the former Walesboro airport site.
The land lease agreement had been in the works for about a year after Cummins was looking to expand the footprint of its operations at the airport site, but the board had been unable to “work fully through it” with the company before its meeting on Dec. 14, said Columbus Municipal Airport director Brian Payne.
The decision to table the land lease was not related to the $30 million Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI grant that was recently awarded to a region comprised of Bartholomew, Jackson and Jennings Counties, as well as the city of Ediburgh, Payne said.
The grant, awarded earlier this month, is expected to help fund a series of projects in the greater Columbus area, including a research and test complex for autonomous, electric and alternative-fuel vehicles at the Walesboro airport property, where Cummins and Faurecia have been using the former runways as a test track.
However, the grant could impact how Cummins and the board decide to move forward with the land lease, Payne said.
“We had not been able to work fully through it with Cummins, so we decided it was best to table it,” Payne said. “… I suspect we may work with Cummins and decide to table that again, or maybe table it indefinitely until we understand the process of READI.”
“I think (the READI grant) will definitely play a part in what happens down there,” Payne added.
