Following a process that began in June 2023 and involved working with engineers and consultants and hosting multiple open house events to gather input from local pilots and residents, the Chehalis City Council unanimously approved adoption of the Chehalis-Centralia Airport’s updated master plan during the council’s meeting on Monday, Feb. 24.
Required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for federal grant funding, airport master plans are comprehensive studies describing the short-, medium- and long-term development goals for future aviation demand at an airport.
The goal is to create an aviation forecast of what infrastructure upgrades or improvements will be needed over the next 20 years.
Chehalis-Centralia Airport’s master plan was last updated in 2001, and the update process was carried out by airport staff along with consultants from the Aviation Planning Group (APG).
Chehalis-Centralia Airport Director Brandon Rakes was joined by APG project manager Leah Whitfield to present the updated master plan to the council on Monday.
“The FAA requests that we formally have council formally adopt, as the airport sponsor, the study in its completion,” Whitfield said. “The airport master plan was completed in late 2024, the FAA kind of signed off on their kind of final checks and balances last August and we’re ready to move forward with the actual adoption.”
The city was able to finance the airport master plan update process through grant funding and while it does forecast growth over the next 20 years, Whitfield added the plan’s focus is on what will be needed over the next five to 10 years.
Annually, the Chehalis-Centralia Airport sees approximately 50,000 operations — which include both landings and takeoffs — on average. Hangar space at the airport is currently at 100% capacity and the forecast estimates operations could be as high as 70,000 in 20 years.
To account for this, plans for expanded apron space along with more hangars are among those in the works as far as capital improvement projects to be undertaken.
Navigational aid and weather station upgrades have also been proposed.
Intermediate and long-term projects include adding new taxiways, pavement rehabilitation programs and drainage improvements.
The updated master plan also includes alternative development ideas, facility requirements, aviation demand forecasts and an inventory of what is at the airport.
Originally a dirt airstrip dedicated in 1927 on land owned by the Donahoe family, the Chehalis-Centralia Airport would go on to be developed into a training facility for pilots during World War II and had two 5,000-foot long runways.
After WWII, commercial airline service was available at the airport through West Coast Airlines until 1958. Shortly after, the City of Chehalis annexed the airport and has overseen operations since.
Now a non-towered, private aviation airport featuring one 5,000-foot long runway, the Chehalis-Centralia Airport is located at 900 NW Airport Road in Chehalis.
For more information and to view the updated Chehalis-Centralia Airport master plan, visit the airport’s website at https://www.chehaliscentraliaairport.com/documents and click “2024 CLS Airport Master Plan Update Report.”
