The Rochelle City Council on Aug. 11 approved the annexation of 5 acres at 13800 Gurler Road, which is contiguous to the Rochelle Municipal Airport. The land, now in the City of Rochelle, is owned by the city and includes an auto body shop for semi trucks and large fleet vehicles known as Large Car Rebuilders.

The city purchased the property from the owner of Large Car Rebuilders over a year ago utilizing 95% federal funds, and currently leases the property back to the business. The annexation was done to make sure city-owned land is within city limits, City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh and City Community Development Director Michelle Pease said Aug. 25.

The property is now zoned as A (Airport). The property was purchased by the city up front and 95% of it was reimbursed by FAA funds. The property will be absorbed into the Rochelle Municipal Airport and will be required to be converted to some kind of aeronautical use in the future.

“Right now the man who operates the facility who we bought it from is leasing it back from us for $5,000 or $6,000 a month,” Fiegenschuh said. “When that lease terminates, the city can decide if it wants to re-lease it to him if he wants or find other tenants. Within a certain amount of time, it has to be used for some kind of aeronautical use. It could possibly be used for plane maintenance or refurbishment. As long as it’s aviation related, that’s what the FAA cares about. The purchase was 95 percent funded by entitlement dollars from the federal government. It was really hard to turn down because it’s guaranteed lease revenue now for five years and it was 95 percent funded by a federal grant. It made economic sense to move forward with that.”

The city manager said that revenue from the Rochelle Municipal Airport has increased in recent years and those funds have been used to continue operating the airport and to fund capital projects. Rochelle Railroad revenues were previously used to fund capital projects at the airport.

The airport does have a tax levy to pay debt service on the city’s community hangar. Outside of that, revenue is lease based, with tenants such as Chicagoland Skydiving Center, Large Car Rebuilders and hangar rentals.

“Chicagoland Skydiving Center is our biggest tenant,” Fiegenschuh said. “When planes come in and refuel, we get revenue from that. Fuel sales and rent are the main sources of income out there. Any time we can have another facility we can rent out and have consistent revenue coming in, that just guarantees we have revenue to operate the facility.”

Fiegenschuh said he’s enjoyed seeing the airport’s revenues increase and it become a hub of community activity, such as serving as a venue for events.

“I love having the airport because it gets used,” Fiegenschuh said. “We’re very blessed to have it. I know a lot of people stop here in planes and fuel up and go to the Flight Deck Bar & Grill for lunch. It’s a big asset for the community, along with Chicagoland Skydiving Center. They’ve had national skydiving events that bring people into our community. It serves as an attraction and a good venue for events.”