Central Texas Airport

A private airport outside Elgin could fill an important niche in Central Texas aviation while giving the county and EISD an important tax base, according to a developer who spoke the Elgin Chamber of Commerce last Thursday. James Carpenter, president of Carpenter & Associates, said an airport here could serve corporate and private airplanes that the infrastructure at Austin-Bergstrom Airport cannot properly serve; Bergstrom is really designed for major passenger planes and cargo, not private enterprise. Given Central Texas’ growth, events like Austin City Limits and South by Southwest dro?ve a great deal of private air traffic from Bergstrom to airports in San Marcos and Georgetown; given proper planning, a private airport in the Elgin area could help fill that overflow.

“The world is changing, and I think the future of how economies are crafted will be based on transportation,” Carpenter said. “This is much larger than building a runway. We’re after a tax base, new businesses and bringing money to Bastrop County.”

Carpenter also provided some third party figures to the Chamber. He said an airport could generate 43,000 new jobs and $8.3 billion in annual spending in Bastrop County, and could be completed in between seven to nine years.

By Marcus Funk - Elgin Courier Staff Writer