A long-running, increasingly bitter feud over Kalispell City Airport reaches a milestone in Tuesday’s general election, when Kalispell voters will repeal or uphold a City Council resolution to try to upgrade the general aviation facility through the federal Airport Improvement Program.

Both sides of the airport issue have been at each other’s throats for months. They have made dire predictions about the future if the other side wins, launched political action committees, websites and Facebook pages to spread their airport views and hurled accusations of misinformation, dirty campaign tricks and wrongdoing.

One side’s up is the other side’s down.

Even members of the Kalispell City Council who voted on the issue in 2012 have re-entered the airport fray to politick as private citizens.

In a letter to residents of Ward 4, council member Tim Kluesner calls the airport project “a HUGE federal government bailout” that would be paid for by many city taxpayers to benefit a few pilots and businesses that use the airport.

Council member Phil Guiffrida recently accused Airport Manager Fred Leistiko of “grossly inflating” airport usage estimates to make the city’s airport eligible for federal funding. Leistiko responded with a legal complaint alleging libel, slander and defamation by Guiffrida.

Supporters of the estimated $16 million airport realignment and expansion argue it’s the best way for the city to improve safety and noise around its airport and allow it to grow as an asset.

Bringing the airport up to modern design standards also would make it eligible for $150,000 a year in maintenance funding through the Airport Improvement Program, money the city has accrued for more than seven years but been unable to spend.

The airport project voters will opt to either pull the plug on or continue to pursue has been in the works for more than a decade, dating back to a 1999 master plan.

Federal reimbursements for nearly $3 million the city has already spent on land and projects at the airport and more than $1 million in accrued maintenance funding would more than cover any of the local project costs going forward, its supporters argue.

Other people are steadfastly opposed to the airport project for seemingly every possible reason.

They doubt if any of the federal funding will ever materialize and, if it does, if it would be enough to maintain an expanded airport. They also doubt the airport project would benefit airport neighbors in any way and if Kalispell City Airport is even worthy of such large federal and local investments given its small-scale use and its proximity to Glacier Park International Airport.

Whichever side prevails, Tuesday’s vote at least starts a new chapter in the history of Kalispell City Airport, an airfield that dates back to the 1920s.

However the airport vote goes, the issue won’t be going away for long.

If the repeal fails and the airport project is allowed to proceed, there are still hurdles Kalispell must clear before it can secure any federal funding.

The airport project first must clear an environmental assessment with a finding of no significant impact, a study the Federal Aviation Administration has agreed to pay for.

If that step is met, Kalispell must then successfully negotiate and secure the right to lower or remove the two KGEZ radio towers and to acquire more than 100 acres of land from 17 property owners. Both are requirements for any federal funding to materialize.

If even one property owner refuses to sell, the airport project grinds to a halt. That’s exactly what happened several years ago when the city was unable to successfully negotiate with the owner of the radio towers. Tower ownership has since changed.

Even if all of those hurdles are cleared, the airport project is anticipated to take at least six years to phase in.

That’s because of the large amount of federal funding required and the Airport Improvement Program’s inability to provide the funding all at once.

If the repeal succeeds, Kalispell must start working on a plan to maintain the airport all on its own.

Exactly how the city plans to wring enough cash out of its general aviation airport to do that remains to be seen. But opponents of the airport expansion are confident it can be done and that in the end the city will be better off.

More than 1,000 Kalispell residents already have cast absentee ballots.

It’s a quiet election beyond the airport referendum, with only one of five open seats on the Kalispell City Council contested.

More than 1,100 absentee ballots have been issued to Ward 2 residents. Of those, about 500 have been returned.

About 700 ballots have been issued in each of Kalispell’s three other wards, with about 250 in each ward returned as of Friday, according to Flathead County Election Department.

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