CoMoBUZ Insider Briefing, April 17, 2026

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Columbia Regional Airport is growing much faster than expected, and that’s forcing city leaders to confront new costs, new staffing demands and bigger infrastructure demands. Mike talked with airport Manager Mike Parks after a city council work session to discuss the airport. Also this week, an update on the Boone Health breakup with Missouri Heart Center, MoDOT construction disruption in Columbia, and the city’s board of adjustment denying a height variance for a hotel in northeast Columbia. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Columbia has spent years celebrating growth at its airport. Now the harder part is here. Can the city government keep up with it? From Como Buzz.com, this is the Como Buzz Insider Briefing, a weekly look at the decisions, documents, and debates shaping Columbia and Boone County. The airport is growing fast enough that City Hall has to start making bigger decisions about staffing, infrastructure, parking, runway capacity, and how the whole operation is managed. That was the core message from this week's City Council work session on the airport's future. The airport's master plan had projected about 176,000 annual employments by 2043. The airport recorded 103,000 emplayments in 2024 and more than 120,000 in 2025. The current airline schedules now put Columbia far ahead of the growth forecast that had been guiding its long-term planning. For years, Columbia Regional Airport had been easy to describe as a success story. More flights, more destinations, more passengers, more visibility for the city.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Really, there's a kind of a short-term list, of course, in the next five years, which are the ones that we have to really look at for funding-wise. And then we have the long-term plan uh 10 and 15 years out. Over the next five years, uh we actually anticipate uh a capital plan of just uh just over $100 million in improvements here at the airport.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

So that's the headline number, more than $100 million in airport improvements over the next five years. Now most of that would likely be paid with federal support, not necessarily local tax dollars alone. But even then, Columbia is still looking at a meaningful local share. Parks told the council that the local portion would be about ten million dollars, even with most major projects expected to qualify for roughly 90 percent federal participation.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

These are projects that generally are supported, scored well uh within the system for federal funding, and in general, they're 90 percent federally funded projects.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

That local share matters, but just as important is what the project list tells us. It tells us the airport is moving into a new phase. This is no longer just about adding flights and watching passenger totals go up. It's about whether the city is prepared for what happens when growth arrives years ahead of schedule. The project list, parks discussed with the council, includes a Glycall recovery system, a new snow removal equipment building, terminal loop road work, a passenger boarding bridge, expanded parking, land acquisition, terminal expansion, and air traffic control tower relocation, and major runway work. One of the clearest examples is the runway issue. The biggest long-term challenge may be how to do a major runway work without interrupting airline service. Here's how Parks explained it.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Well, you know, I think the ones that stand out most, and probably backing up just on a little bit. Of course, this airport was built in the 60s here at its current location, and so we do have some aging pavement out there. The prime example is our current primary runway. 6,500 feet from the primary runway. But we do know that at some point it's going to have to be totally reconstructed. That alone, you know, is right around $40 million to complete that project. And of course, that's you know, that's towards that 31, that's the end of the five-year plan. But leading up to that, we've done a lot of planning. So what we do know is we know we need to lengthen our crosswind runway to prepare for the reconstruction of that primary runway. So what we don't want to do is, you know, we're talking about all this growth at the airport and all of these flights and all these fantastic things that are happening at the airport. We're really trying to set this up with our capital plan to ensure that when we have to rebuild our primary runway, we have a backup plan, and that's the extension to the crosswind runway. So the crosswind runway, of course, we completed that in 2017. Uh we opened that new runway. It's 5,500 feet long. But we know there's a need now to, due to the increased fleet size that's flying out of Columbia, we know there's a need to lengthen that to about 6,500 feet in preparation for that primary runway project.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

That is really the key point. The airport is trying to build a backup plan before it takes on one of its biggest capital projects. And the runway work is only part of it. When people hear airport expansion, that can sound abstract, but Parks laid out what that means in practical terms too, especially inside and around the terminal. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

In our plan now, we're actually going to be talking to the FAA about next year expanding our sterile area, which you know we were just approved. Uh we're going to be applying for our new passenger boarding bridge, which is number four at the gate three area, and then the expansion will actually move to the south. Really, what that expansion is going to look like is a fixed passenger boarding bridge that's going to go to the south, leading out to another mobile bridge, which would be our fifth passenger boarding bridge on the line. We're looking at that towards the end of next calendar year. We would begin the design on that and start working on that.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

So now you're talking about real physical expansion, more gates, more boarding capacity, more terminal pressure. And then there's the problem travelers are already feeling now, and that's parking. Parking has become one of the most immediate signs that airport growth is already faster than old expectations. Parks told the council the airport is moving ahead with expanded parking on both the south and north ends of the property, including a south lot with about 600 spaces. City staff also said three shuttle bus driver positions are expected to be introduced at Monday's council meeting to support the remote parking operation at an estimated fiscal year cost of about $75,000. Park said the city is already working on that, too.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Parking improvements are one of our primary focuses right now. We're building the gravel lot to the south, uh, which is going to be 600-plus parking spaces. But out to bid right now is what people are going to see when they pull in, and that's the construction of the new paved parking that's going to occur at the north end. That paved parking is going to include about 435 parking spots. Out of that, just a little bit, and more than half of those are going to be brand new paved spots that are going to add to the capacity here at the airport. So in the next three to four months, you're going to see an additional about 800 to 1,000 parking spaces being added to the airport.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

That's a major change, and it's a good example of how quickly the airport is having to respond because airport growth is not just showing up in future planning documents. It's now showing up in immediate operational needs, more parking, a shuttle system, more staff, more coordination. And some of these projects trigger other projects. For example, if the city extends the crossway runway, it's not just about pavement, it also affects the control tower.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

As part of extending that uh crosswind runway, there's the uh line of sight from midpoint to midpoint on each runway. And so as part of the bigger plan, we would be required to move that control tower uh to a location south of its current site to ensure that we continue that uh midpoint to midpoint runway line of sight.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

So this is a chain reaction. Growth drives runway work, runway work drives land acquisition, runway work also drives tower relocation, and all of that has to be timed in a way that keeps the airport functioning as a commercial airport. Then there's the management side. This week's council discussion was not only about concrete and asphalt, it was also about whether the airport has outgrown the way it is currently organized inside city government. Parks told council that the airport currently has 20 full-time employees in addition to himself, and council members were presented with a possible reorganization that would make the airport a standalone department, adding an airport director, deputy airport director, a maintenance supervisor, while reclassifying existing positions. Finance staff said the broader changes beyond the shuttle drivers would add about $50,000 more this fiscal year, with total annual costs estimated at roughly $406,000, including benefits. Parks said there's been very few staffing changes over a long period of time, even as the airport has continued to expand.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Of course, there's uh a lot of growth, there's a lot of uh capital projects, and so the city manager is has proposed the consideration to add a deputy airport director and airport director to the airport. I would be offset with the removal of positions. There's several that would be retitled to be more consistent with other airports, which would make it easier to, you know, retain and and recruit airport staff for positions.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

And that gets to a deeper issue. The airport is no longer operating like a small side division, the city can tuck into some other department. It's starting to look like a large standalone municipal enterprise. That means City Hall has to think differently about it. It also means the city has to think harder about the money side. Parks told the council the airport currently receives about $2 million a year in city funds to help support operations. He also said one long-term goal is to make the airport more self-sustaining. And that means not only handling growth, but making sure the airport is charging rates that better reflect what it provides. Parks said airport rates and charges have not been meaningfully updated in years. He said the last numbered update was in 2008, and the last adopted update was in 2012, and that the city is now reviewing everything from ground leases and to office rent to fuel flowage fees and landing fees. He told Council the airport currently charges about eight cents per square foot for ground leases, compared with roughly 24 to 25 cents per square foot in Jefferson City. He said Columbia's landing fee is also low compared with other airports. So that's pretty revealing. It suggests the city has spent years pursuing airport growth without fully aligning the revenue structure with the cost supporting that growth. And that's often how these things go in city government. Expansion first, pricing later, then the scramble to catch up. So the broader point is this airport growth is no longer just a development story, it's now a city management story. The airport is succeeding, that part is clear, but success still has to be governed, it has to be staffed, it has to be priced properly, and it has to be supported with infrastructure, and it has to be planned in a way that does not let growth outrun the institution managing it. That's the real test right now. Not whether the airport can grow, it already has. The question is whether City Hall can keep up. You're listening to the Como Buzz Insider briefing from Como Buzz.com. The first item this week on the briefing board is a shift in tone in Boone Health's breakup fight with Missouri Heart Center. Boone Health has withdrawn its request for an emergency restraining order that would have forced immediate access to disputed patient and billing data in its software system. Boone told the court that after filing for a temporary restraining order on April 3rd, lawyers for both sides began good faith negotiations and that those talks had advanced far enough that Boone no longer believed a contested hearing was necessary. Boone also asked the court to cancel a hearing that had been set for Tuesday morning. That's significant, but it's important to understand what it does and does not mean. Boone's broader lawsuit remains pending, and the contracts at the center of this dispute still end May 6th. Boone's April 3rd filing had accused Missouri Hart of blocking access to records in the software system and argued the data was necessary to protect patients and to manage the end of the cardiology group's contracts. The withdrawn filing says only that negotiations are in the final stages and that Boone no longer believes emergency relief from the court is necessary at this point. So that's not a truce, but it's a notable de-escalation in a fight that just days earlier, Boone had framed in very serious terms. The second item this week is the St. Charles Road overpass over Interstate 70. The bridge is gone, and now the hard part starts. Kopinski said the closure is expected to last until about the first home football game for the University of Missouri. That means Columbia is about to spend much of the summer without two major north-south connections over the interstate. He described the closure as a major impact for people in the area and said communication will be critical if the project is going to be successful. Because this is not a one-day event. This is the long middle stretch. And for the people in Columbia, the real story is not the demolition itself. It's the months of rerouting, delay, and adaptation that comes after it. You're listening to Como Buzz Insider Briefing from Como Buzz.com. This week's receipt segment is about the Board of Adjustment denying a variance request for a proposed hotel near Interstate 70 on Clark Lane. The headline is simple enough. The Board voted 4-1 against a request that would have allowed the developer to exceed the zoning district's 45-foot height limit by 16 feet. This was not a vote on whether a hotel belongs there. Board member Peter Norgaard asked whether a four-story hotel could be built on the same site. The applicant's engineer said yes, it could. It would just not deliver the same economics, amenities, and bed count. And that answer likely hurt the application because a variance is not supposed to be granted simply because the preferred project works better financially. The issue is whether the property itself has a hardship that justifies relief from the code. And once the answer became yes, a compliant hotel can still be built here, just not the one the applicant prefers, the case for the variance became much weaker. That appears to be where the board landed, and that is the receipt this week. Not just that the board said no, but that the record showed the difference between a true hardship and a design preference. Coming up, the big thing to watch next week is Columbia City Council's first formal step toward an August election on a new 1 percent public safety sales tax. The ordinance on first reading Monday would call a special election on August 4th on whether the city should impose an additional one cent citywide sales tax dedicated to police and fire services. City staff estimate the tax would generate about $38 million, with the revenue going into a new public safety fund separate from other general fund expenses. City staff says the money would support police and fire operations, capital improvements, and pay and benefit programs, and the ordinance packet identifies goals including hiring 50 police officers over four years and 40 firefighters over four years, building a new police facility, constructing two new fire stations, renovating three current stations, and maintaining competitive wages. Monday's action is only the first reading with a more consequential council discussion and vote expected May 4th. But this is the point where a long discussed proposal moves into the formal process, and from here the scrutiny should intensify.com. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next week.