Ground broken for Construction of Terminal at Airport

Charlie Bauder
WNEG

Ground has now been broken for construction of a terminal at the Toccoa-Stephens County Airport.

Local leaders gathered Monday for the groundbreaking ceremony at the airport on Tugalo Street in Toccoa.

Toccoa-Stephens County Airport Authority Chairman John Taylor said the project will give the airport an official terminal, something it has not really had before.

“It will be a fairly large building, about 6,000 square feet,” Taylor said. “Primarily, it is for the passengers coming and going. We will have a very nice conference room available for public use. It will be a really great place for pilots to hang around while waiting for customers to come in. It is just an improvement we wanted. We really need this.”

Taylor said the total project cost is expected to be about $1.5 million, with construction of the building costing about $1.1 million. Some of the funding for the project is coming from a $500,000 OneGeorgia Grant. The rest of the money is coming from revenue generated by special purpose local option sales tax V in the county.

“We are very fortunate to have an airport of this quality here,” said Toccoa Vice Mayor David Austin. “This new terminal building is going to be another great asset for us.”

Stephens County Commission Chairman J.B. Hudgins said an addition has been a long time coming at the airport.

“I started flying out of this airport in 1955, and it had not changed much until now,” Hudgins said. “This will put us where we will able to improve service and be more efficient.”

Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce Chairman Lee Hicks said the new terminal is a positive step.

“This is economic development in Toccoa and Stephens County,” Hicks said. “We are proud to be a part of it and support it.”

Stephens County Development Authority Chairman Cam Parker said, “I want to thank the one group that is probably more responsible for this, and that is the citizens of Stephens County. They voted in SPLOST V for projects like this.”

Grading will start at the airport for the terminal this week, Taylor said, and construction is expected to take seven or eight months to complete.