TOLEDO: To get federal customs agents back at Toledo Express Airport, the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority board of directors voted Thursday to spend $815,000 to construct a facility that the port authority’s president suggested was unnecessary.
The space, to be built inside the existing Toledo Air Associates hangar at Toledo Express Airport, is needed to get Customs and Border Protection to move back to Toledo from Port Clinton, Port Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Toth, Jr., said.
He said the agency consolidated its staff at Erie-Ottawa International Airport recently and since then Toledo has had difficulty getting international flights and passengers checked through customs.
“The requirement for a new facility is being forced on everyone across the U.S. that doesn’t meet current standards. We are simply frustrated by the lack of accommodation and support currently by the CBP, and are not convinced that building them a nice new $1 million dollar facility will improve their commitment to supporting business and commerce at Toledo Express Airport,” Mr. Toth said.
Mr. Toth said the port authority built a 2,500-square-foot space for the agency in 2004 but agents rarely used it, preferring to operate out of the Ohio Building in Toledo.
“It’s had a serious effect on clearing flights from international locations,” Mr. Toth said of Customs’ move to Port Clinton and its requirements for advance notice to check international flights.
According to Mr. Toth, Owens-Illinois Inc. and Owens Corning have had to land at Port Clinton or another airport to clear passengers who are flying to the United States with a green card. And two cargo companies have been turned away from using Toledo Express Airport because Customs agents refused to allow them landing rights.
The service is needed mostly for corporate general aviation, he said. Mr. Toth said he did not know the number of international flights but said they could arrive daily or not for several days at a time. Users include corporate aircraft, cargo aircraft, and passenger charter flights from Mexico, Canada, and Europe.
The money for the project is being diverted from previously budgeted uses, including additional improvements to the Jeep Parkway industrial development project and construction of a road on the south side of the airport.
A representative of Customs and Border Protection could not be reached for comment.
Stan Gebhardt, the director of the Erie-Ottawa airport near Port Clinton, said his airport is also building a structure to house border agents, at a cost of about $650,000. He said the airport handles 350 to 400 international flights a month, either from Canada’s Pelee Island or elsewhere in Canada.
“My understanding is that if you want them at your facility, you have to provide the structure for them to operate out of,” Mr. Gebhardt said.
He said the airport started handling international flights in 2013 after Griffing Flying Service Inc. closed Griffing Airport in Sandusky and moved to Erie-Ottawa.
Board Vice Chairman James Tuschman said building the office inside the Port Authority’s existing hangar building will save on the cost.
