SitemapThe Western Reserve Port Authority is talking with Kent State University about using space at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport for a training program.
Maureen McFarland, director of Kent State’s aviation program, is expected to visit the Vienna Township airport in July to “have a conversation about utilization of our airport,” John Moliterno, WRPA executive director, told board members Wednesday. “We’re happy to entertain them and have them come here and talk about how we can partner potentially with Kent State,” he said at a meeting of the port authority’s aviation and economic development committees. The airport’s assets would likely be used for a drone program for Kent State University at Trumbull, said Lance Grahn, dean and chief administrative officer of the campus. “This is at present an exploratory process,” Grahn said during a phone interview following the meeting. The discussions are part of an effort to look at how the university campus in Champion Township can more effectively serve the Mahoning Valley. Discussions with KSU have been going on for a couple of years, Moliterno said. Among the airport’s assets that it could offer the aviation program are a Federal Aviation Administration control tower, longer runway and National Weather Service Station. “We’ll certainly put this on the table as a way in which to bring the world-class aviation program from Kent State to Kent State Trumbull,” Grahn said. He also was pleased to learn that there might be a building available at the airport the would be “a perfect place for a drone technology or drone maintenance program,” he said. Grahn envisions connections with the Youngstown Air Reserve Station and the 910th Airlift Wing, which shares facilities with the airport, as well as America Makes, the Youngstown Business Incubator and the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics and its aviation maintenance program. During the economic development committee meeting, board members received an update on the port authority’s joint project with Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and other projects.
YNDC and the port authority are developing the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley’s former distribution center on Glenwood Avenue in Youngstown to house several small businesses. To read the full article from The Business Journal, click here.