| WCHS-TV - A project that has been years in the making may finally come to fruition after the Roane County Airport Authority voted to approve an option to buy the privately owned Boggs Airfield at a price of $5 million.
"You need an airport where people can stop and fuel up, you need an airport where people can land in case of emergencies, so there's lots of reasons," Mayor Terry Williams of Spencer said. "Anytime you can help your infrastructure, why not take advantage of it?"
Located just outside of city limits off Spring Creek Road, the airport was developed 1997 by the late Harry Boggs and opened in 2000.
"He realized the importance of an airport in a community and was just trying to fulfill that to the maximum," Richard Boggs, the son of the airport's developer.
Six years later, a runway expansion came to be, doubling its length to 4,500 feet. Today the property has several hangars and a weather station.
"There's a lot of acreage there with the airport property that could make other things happen," Williams said.
As part of the deal, the airport authority has set aside more than $300,000 that could potentially be matched by state or federal dollars. It would be named the Harry C. Boggs Airport.
"We don't have a river, we don't have an interstate, but we need to have an airport," Williams said. “Nothing's going to happen overnight, but we need to receive funding so we can purchase it. Once that happens, we're really going to dig in and make things happen."
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