The word normality refers to the state of being normal or as expected. A local operation is looking towards returning to normality after a fire caused an unexpected shutdown. 

In March 2021, a fire broke out in the main building at the Greene County Airport, causing smoke and water damage throughout the building. According to Greene County Commissioner Mike Belding, the fire was caused by a spontaneous combustion of cleaning rags that had been stored in the basement of the building.

Now, a year and a half after the fire, renovations are looking to be completed to move the airport back to normality.

The Greene County Airport is overseen by the Greene County Commissioners’ office, and when the Commissioners began the processes of fixing up the building, Belding said it became apparent that complete renovations were needed.

“There’s two entities that share that building,” Belding said. “One is the magistrate, a judge, and the other is the restaurant obviously. Both were significantly damaged.”

According to Belding, a damage analysis completed by code enforcement inspectors and a post-fire inspection showed damage to internal objects including wiring and HVAC systems. 

Under the current building code, if a renovation is to occur on part of an older building, the entire building must undergo renovation to bring it up to the current code.

“So that building, in its entirety, had to be rewired and the HVAC, heating and air conditioning systems had to be redone in addition to smoke and water damage,” Belding said. “So then it gets more complicated.” 

Computer Aided Design (CAD) software was to be used for the redesign of the wiring and HVAC system but to do so, the plans for the building were needed to be put into the software.

That building, in its entirety, had to be rewired and the HVAC, heating and air conditioning systems had to be redone in addition to smoke and water damage.”

Commissioner Mike Belding

“Well, it turns out the original building did not meet the architecturally approved design of the blueprints that we had,” Belding said. “So basically we didn’t have any accurate physical plans of what the footprint of the inside of that building was. So they had to, by hand, go in and measure every part of that building to include where the footers were or where the structural part was, where the HVAC was, where the wiring was and all of that and then put it into this computerized system to redesign up to the current code. That took months.”

According to Belding, supply chain issues and labor shortages added to the construction time of the building. 

“It’s a perfect storm for delaying the reconstruction of a building for a year and a half,” Belding said.

But now, the Greene County Airport is looking to begin reopening, starting by moving the magistrate’s office back to the west side of the building potentially by the end of the month.

The previous owners of the Airport Restaurant, which was also located inside the main building, will not be returning after announcing their retirement at the beginning of September. The Greene County Commissioners opened a bid for the restaurant space that will close on Oct. 14. The Commissioners hope to have a new restaurant opened in the airport by Jan. 1, 2023. 

Belding said that he does not have a total cost of the renovations because the building is insured by the county as a facility and the occupants as a renter. 

“So two organizations will share that cost and there were some expenses outside of the insurance that the county will have to pick up,” Belding said. “But there will be expenses shared by three entities: the renter’s insurance company, the county’s insurance company, and the overages will be picked up by the county.”

The renovations to the building did not affect the airfield operations of the airport, but Belding said the commissioners hope that the gradual reopening brings the community back to the space.

“We hope the customers and the general public from the traditional restaurant that was there flock back to it and it becomes a restaurant under new management but the same old community gathering place,” Belding said.