PORT TOWNSEND – With groundwork to begin in about two weeks for eight new hangar sites at Jefferson County International Airport, Port of Port Townsend commissioners learned this week that several contractors want in on the development.

“I have seven people who have contacted me who want to develop there,” port Deputy Director Jim Pivarnik told port commissioners during a Wednesday morning work session.

To ensure that building speculators won’t just sit on the hangar sites after the port spends an estimated $350,000 to develop the infrastructure, port leaders discussed an 18-month deadline for building hangars.

Such an arrangement would be supported by the Federal Aviation Administration, said Pivarnik.

The FAA, which would finance 95 percent of the $1.5 million project, also prefers that several contractors develop the sites, rather than just one or two, he said.

Drainage issues have bogged down the project over the last two years.

So, port officials want to move fast to remove 8,700 cubic yards of soil at the northeast corner of the airport, near state Highway 19.

The removal will make way for new taxiways and hangar pads with hangar buildings that would be leased to airplane owners.

The port would rent the pads to customers, but would not own the steel hangar buildings.

Those would be built and sold by contractors.

Each of the hangars could, depending on configuration, shelter between six to 12 aircraft.

The port would provide electricity and water for fire hydrants, but no running water to the hangars.

That’s intended to discourage people living in the structures.

Port Executive Director Larry Crockett said a lease price of around $3 a square foot has been discussed but had not been finalized.

Don Taylor, port finance director, said he figured that 50-year leases would generate about $1.8 million for the port, with the agency getting a return on its investment in 12 to 15 years.

The port last month secured a wetlands concurrence and mitigation plan permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The permit allows the port to direct contractor Seton Construction to begin digging a drainage retention pond at the airport’s southeast corner near state Highway 19.

The project proposes grading land and installing infrastructure and taxiways to support the hangars.

“I would really like to get this project done this year,” Pivarnik said.

“It is already three years in the making.”