The Quiet Skies group continues its push to close or move Kalispell City Airport, with the City Council preparing yet again to ponder what to do with the 83-year-old general aviation facility.

"We just want our peace and quiet. That's where it started," spokesman Scott Davis said of the informal group's formation four or five years ago.

A $97,000 study by Stelling Engineers has been exploring various options for what to do with the airport in south Kalispell.

It's a contentious question that has gone unanswered for the better part of a decade.

The study is nearing completion and the Kalispell City Council meets at 7 tonight for a work session on its draft findings and recommendations. The public meeting is in the council chambers at City Hall, 201 First Ave. E.

City Manager Jane Howington told council members she would like to see them come away from the work session willing to vote on a nonbinding resolution of intent for the airport at their next regular meeting on Dec. 19.

"[That] would allow us to move forward into whatever the next phase is, whether shutting it down, moving it or improving it," she said.

THE ONGOING STUDY, funded mostly by the Federal Aviation Administration, has identified more than a dozen options for the airport. City staffers have narrowed those down to four or five more realistic options, Howington said.

Only two options make sense to the supporters of Quiet Skies, Davis said.

"It's going to basically be close it or move it ... To leave it alone we can't afford it," Davis said, referring to a backlog of work needed at the city-owned airport and its limited revenues raised from leases, fees and investment earnings.

Upgrading the Kalispell City Airport to meet minimum federal safety standards has been pitched for years as one way to make it eligible for state and federal funding through the Airport Improvement Program.

Strings attached to such funding make that an undesirable option, at least in the airport's present location, Davis said, referring to grant "assurances" that would be required and limit the local control of its operations.

"I don't believe the council would ever consider expanding the airport with FAA funding [in its present location]. There's just too many negatives," Davis said.

But that is what has been proposed.

Airport Manager Fred Leistiko said the facility's advisory board has formally recommended that the airport remain where it is and be upgraded to meet minimum federal safety standards.

Doing that could cost upwards of $10 million or even $15 million. But it also would make the airport eligible for federal funding to cover as much as 95 percent of the cost, as well as $150,000 in annual maintenance funding, Leistiko said.

Short of moving the airport, that course of action likely would entail moving, lengthening and realigning the airport's runway and taxiways and shortening or removing the two KGEZ radio towers standing in what would be protected airspace.

It also would require substantial land purchases to build sufficient safety buffers, and it's not clear if surrounding landowners would be willing to sell. At least one has refused to sell land in the past.

Lengthening and widening the airport's 3,600-foot runway would bring in more air traffic and larger aircraft, even jets, Davis said. He called that a nonstarter for neighbors who already have noise and safety concerns about the airport and the airplanes that use it.

"Move it and bring it up to FAA [standards] if that's what you want to do," Davis said.

ANOTHER QUIET SKIES member, Carl Feig, said the city-owned land used by Kalispell City Airport should be put to better use.

Feig suggested a 2,500-seat auditorium, a convention center with sports facilities and a YMCA.

He also suggested the general aviation activities at Kalispell City Airport - which reported 41,400 flight "operations" in 2005 - could be moved to Glacier Park International Airport, six miles northeast of the city, or other small airports in the valley.

"Highest and best use, that's what I want to put that [property] to," Feig said. "Not a city airport that has so many liabilities. Let's get some assets out there."

Davis said Monday's work session on the airport is time repeating itself, as the question has resurfaced over the years.

He wants to see the council make a decision and stick with it through the transition to a new city manager in 2012.

"For the last 10 years it gets to a head and nobody wants to put their foot in the bucket ... The citizens are getting upset about that," he said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.