CONROE: Construction began this week on the new $2 million U.S. Customs facility at Lone Star Executive Airport in spite of The Woodlands Township’s withdrawal of funding last year amid board member objections.
Although the township Board of Directors refused to fund the facility, the endeavor did garner support from The Woodlands Economic Development Partnership, which committed $50,000 toward the facility’s construction costs after its budget produced a net income.
“Instead of putting that money in the bank, we felt we should put it to work,” said Gil Staley, chief executive officer of the EDP. “The niche market we enjoy is one of corporate headquarters, and (the customs facility) will help us in recruitment efforts.”
The 3,200-square-foot facility is expected to be operational by May 2016 and will be funded mostly by Montgomery County, which will contribute about $1.2 million, as well as cover the $144,000 annual operating costs, some of which will be covered by user fees, said airport director Scott Smith.
County Judge Craig Doyal said he expects the airport to be an asset to the county by attracting more corporations.
The airport, soon to be known as Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport, conducted a survey in 2013 and found that, in 18 months, about 160 flights had cleared customs at a different facility before landing in Conroe, Smith said. The airport has about 61,000 takeoffs and landings each year, and they expect about 100 international flights to clear customs at the Conroe airport in the first year.
“It will be a cost savings for (clients) to be able to come in directly – preclude an intermediate stop, which is always costly,” he said, adding that most international flights that come into the airport are business or corporate flights conducting business in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Canada or elsewhere.
Funding fuels tension
Tension between The Woodlands and Montgomery County has swirled around the project since the township board, which agreed in July 2014 to pay one-fourth – up to $600,000 – of the costs of building the facility, pulled its funding last October.
The original plan to fund the facilities – which will be a stand-alone building constructed to federal standards – was to be split evenly four ways among Montgomery County, the city of Conroe, Black Forest Ventures – the company that owns the airport, as well as the Black Walnut Café and Hubbell and Hudson Kitchen – and The Woodlands Township.
Proponents of the customs facility said that it would help bolster the corporate business climate in the region by providing a faster and more cost effective entry point for international corporate flights, allowing them to bypass the busier George Bush Intercontinental Airport, currently the closest customs facility to Montgomery County.
Some on the board, however, believe that local government has no place funding facilities that will primarily benefit private companies.
“If you look around, we haven’t had any challenges attracting corporations to relocate to The Woodlands,” said Township board member Gordy Bunch. “This is a federal issue. Why isn’t the federal government paying for this facility if there’s a need?”
Bunch said that, as The Woodlands is approaching build out, he doesn’t see that this facility would contribute to growth.
“The people that will use it will be billionaires or billion-dollar, for-profit companies … that’s .001 percent of the entire population of the county,” Bunch said.
Bruce Tough, chairman of The Woodlands board as well as a member of the EDP board, believes the customs facility attracting billion-dollar companies is a positive thing for all county residents.
“A lot of cities and counties and economic development partnerships provide incentives for businesses to relocate within their boundaries,” Tough said. “It increases sales tax (revenue), property tax, hotel tax, and is a benefit to residents.”
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