A regional airport that Pella and Oskaloosa have been chasing since March 2012 is on the verge of being grounded for good. The Oskaloosa City Council was scheduled to discuss Monday night whether to withdraw from and dissolve the South Central Regional Airport Agency, with the Pella City Council taking up the same question Tuesday and the SCRAA board itself set to meet Wednesday to formally discontinue the partnership.
A 14-Year Effort Runs Out of Land
The project's undoing comes down to acreage. According to KCCI, the plan called for roughly 600 acres, but the South Central Regional Airport Agency was never able to secure all the land it needed. The agency did manage to acquire 378 acres, which would now be sold off if the project is formally terminated.
The breaking point traces back to Mahaska County's exit from the original 28E agreement. The station's report notes that Mahaska County withdrew from the partnership, and according to the same account, that departure made it no longer possible for the agency to acquire the remaining property needed to actually build an airport. The project has effectively been on hold since July 2024, when that withdrawal took place, per KBOE Radio.
What Was Planned — and What It Would Cost to Walk Away
Had it moved forward, the airport was designed to be substantial. Per the same KCCI account, plans called for a 5,500-foot primary runway, a 3,800-foot crosswind runway, a terminal, a maintenance area and additional hangars. The new facility was meant to replace, not supplement, the cities' existing airfields — when it opened, Pella and Oskaloosa's current airports would have closed, the outlet previously reported.
Winding the project down won't be simple or cheap. Documents filed with the City of Oskaloosa show the agency expects it will need approximately two years to sell the 378 acres in order to comply with FAA guidelines, and that SCRAA will need to refund the federal share of the acquisition cost, or the current fair market value of the property, whichever is greater. Those same documents, viewed on the City of Oskaloosa's website, also state that the FAA will not fund development projects at the existing Pella or Oskaloosa airport sites until SCRAA provides written notification, signed by both parties, confirming it is abandoning the new regional airport project and taking concrete, documented steps toward repaying the grant funds.
Conflicting Figures on Federal Money at Stake
Just how much federal money is tied up in the stalled project depends on which source is consulted. KCCI reported that the Federal Aviation Administration provided $4.8 million to support the project, while KNIA-KRLS reported SCRAA received just over $5.24 million in FAA grants, with those funds due back by 2039. The dossier of agency records does not explain the discrepancy between the two figures.
While the project sat in limbo, the agency hasn't let the land sit idle. KCCI has reported that SCRAA has been leasing the land it already purchased to local farmers, generating some use of the property even as its ultimate fate remained undecided. By May 2026, after approximately 14 years and 2 months of pursuing the airport, the agency had still reached no official decision and instead sought guidance from the Oskaloosa and Pella city councils on where to go next, according to KBOE Radio's earlier coverage.
The Legal Strings Attached to the Partnership
The agreement binding the two cities together carried its own conditions. Minutes from a Pella City Council meeting, posted on the City of Pella's website, show the amended 28E agreement required written approval from both the Oskaloosa and Pella city councils before SCRAA could acquire additional land or move forward with construction, and it made each city responsible for 50% of the airport's net expenditures. SCRAA itself is constituted under Iowa Code section 28E.5 as a separate legal entity governed by its own board, according to the City of Pella's description of the regional airport agency.
Notably, Pella's approval of that amended agreement did not waive the city's right to pursue damages from Mahaska County under applicable law or the original 28E agreement, the same meeting minutes state. SCRAA's own July 2024 resolution had stated the project would not be pursued further until the agency received written instructions from Pella and Oskaloosa to move forward — instructions that now appear likely to end the effort rather than revive it.
