By Sara QuamThe city of Luverne is planning for an airport runway expansion that will change the area’s landscape, but the city hopes it will also alter the business climate for the better. While the city waits for the state to approve the Airport Justification Report, it is sure the next step, the environmental assessment, will get approval, too. The city purchased 80 acres, and the cost to the city for that will actually be $31,000 after grants are spent for it. Those 80 acres will be rented as farmland at $8,000 a year, so the city is out even less money. The airport is also getting two new hangars, one to replace a hangar lost to the August windstorm and another to accommodate larger aircraft that are planning to use the airport more frequently.Covering the actual cost of the new $2-million runway will be 95 percent federal and state grants. Changes from 2004 Last June, the city was putting off runway plans for up to seven years because a survey of airport users didn’t show enough traffic or larger planes to justify a longer runway. Since then, local businesses have come forward stating their intentions to use the runway more than calculated before. An anonymous business said it would use the runway 200 times a year for its Piper Cheyenne plane. Others reporting more uses with larger aircraft are: oFirst Farmers Bank with a King Air 200, 96 times oSkydive Adventures with a King Air 90, 150 times oTom Lien with a King Air 200, 48 times oAgri-Energy with a King Air, 48 times oVets Home Advantage with a King Air, eight times oLife Flight with a King Air, eight times oMark Jacobson Inc. With a King Air, eight times oWR Berkley with a Gulfstream, two times oWR Berkley clients with various large multi-engine aircraft, six times The total uses and types of planes mean the runway will likely become a higher priority. A survey of airport users got some favorable comments. Others said they land in Pipestone or Larchwood, Iowa, in order to have a longer runway for landing. Some comments were: oA longer runway "would allow us to land at Luverne instead of Pipestone or Sioux Falls in bad weather." o"There are many times over the years when I had to land at Sioux Falls or Worthington because of weather." The runway expansion has gotten mixed reviews locally. Most who didn’t favor the new runway said they didn’t think it was necessary, that it wouldn’t make much of a difference to enough people. Also, a township road just to the south of the airport (running east and west) will be closed for the project. Other township roads nearby may be reinforced or widened to accommodate more traffic because of that road closure. Zoning for the new airport was already approved, and flight patterns allow room for development near the interstate. The airport was first built in 1959.