The Federal Aviation Administration is sticking to its guns: The Northern Great Plains Interagency Dispatch Center, in the old Rapid City Regional Airport terminal, does not belong in such a key spot for airplane hangars, aviation businesses and aircraft.

"In federal rules, aeronautical uses always come first," said Steven Obenauer, the FAA's Bismarck, N.D.-based regional manager. "The last available space is around the old terminal. … That constitutes an aeronautical need."

Obenauer toured the fire-dispatch center on Thursday and met with Mayor Alan Hanks and other officials.

Joe Lowe, state wildlands fire coordinator, is reluctant to move. He played a big role in getting the various state and federal firefighting agencies under one roof back in 2001.

Lowe said the state of South Dakota spent $1.8 million to renovate the long-vacant building. The state fixed the roof and replaced drywall, ceilings and carpets. It also installed phone lines, computers and emergency generators. "There was anticipation by the state that the $1.8 million in tenant improvements would be for a longer-term lease," he said.

But the FAA's Obenauer said that back in 2001, when work began on the center, the FAA was not notified until after the work had begun. The agency spends a lot of federal money on airports, and it has the authority over such projects.

"Our initial determination was that this dispatch center might have some connection to aviation, with slurry bombers and other uses, but the center in and of itself was not an aeronautical activity. … They were putting it in an area that was designated for aeronautical use," Obenauer said.

At the time, there was room for new hangars at the airport, so the FAA approved a three-year lease and extended it for another three years in 2004. When that lease expired in 2007, Obenauer said, the airport did not ask for an extension. With new hangars and other projects, Obenauer doubts the airport could show there is no aeronautical need.

Mason Short, executive director of Rapid City Regional Airport, confirmed that the airport has not formally asked for another extension. He said he hoped to first work out an agreement between all parties involved.

Mayor Alan Hanks, who has been working to keep the center at the airport, said he has instructed Short to send a letter to the FAA this week formally seeking the extension. "This is one facility we absolutely can not lose," Hanks said.

Sheri Fox, manager of the dispatch center, said the fire agencies rely often on the center's proximity to the airport ramp. Airplanes sit outside the dispatch center during fire season. Pilots and air crews can get briefed in the center, step outside to their planes and get in the air quickly.

In addition, during large fires in other parts of the country, the National Fire Dispatch Center in Boise sends charter jets to Rapid City to pick up local crews. When the big fires are here, the charter jets bring crews in.

In 2007, the agency sent 173 missions with single-engine tankers and large slurry bombers, dumping more than 192,000 gallons of fire retardant and water. She conceded, however, that the slurry bombers and tankers, dispatched by radio, could do their jobs without a dispatch center next to the runway.

Elsewhere in the West, fire dispatch centers are fairly common at airports. By one count, there are 32 such centers, including more than a dozen that are right on the runway.

Some of the airport-based dispatch centers sound a lot like the Rapid City facility. At Grand Junction Regional Airport in Colorado, the local center dispatches slurry bombers to Western Slope fires. And like Rapid City, the dispatch center and the bomber base are not in the same facility.

There are differences. For example, the big National Fire Dispatch Center in Boise is located on the runway, but it has a hangar - an aeronautical use. And at Coeur d'Alene Airport in Idaho, the U.S. Forest Service fire center also shares its airport space with a slurry bomber base, said Greg Delavan, airport manager.

"No one has questioned it," Delavan said. However, until a few years ago, the dispatch center was not paying full market rent. The airport, following FAA rules, renegotiated the lease. It now pays full market rent.

The Rapid City dispatch center pays only $1 per year. However, state officials have offered to begin paying full rent. Obenauer said full market rent is indeed an FAA requirement, but it's too late now: Aeronautical needs come first, he said, and the space will be needed.

"The bottom line is that we're not opposed to having this dispatch center on the airport. It just doesn't need to be in that exact spot," he said.

How long can the center stay? Obenauer said he feels comfortable leaving the center in place at least through the end of the 2009 fire season. He said 2010 is a definite maybe. After that, it's hard to tell, he said.

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com