The Vicksburg Municipal Airport is moving forward with an application for a $262,206 grant to acquire 19 acres of land – which Gov. Haley Barbour has pre-approved – while a second request for an $800,000 grant has been denied by the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

“We’ve been approved for the grant, but in order to have the funds attached to it we have to send in an application that describes the scope of the work,” said VMA Board President Kimble Slaton at the board’s monthly meeting Thursday. “It’s looking good for us.”

Last month Barbour selected the Vicksburg airport to apply for the Delta Regional Authority 2008 federal grant program, which provides funding opportunities for 252 counties and parishes in an eight-state region. The airport plans to use the grant money to purchase 19 acres of land north of the airport’s runway and have the trees on the land removed to increase visibility and safety for pilots. The board has until July 25 to submit the grant application.

MDOT denied a grant application the board submitted in April to build a self-serve fuel farm, purchase a weather observation system and help fund a stalled T-hangar project. Groundwork was done on the planned T-hangar project earlier in the year, which would provide 10 spaces for small planes and create an additional revenue source for the airport. Since then, however, the airport has not secured a funding source for the project and the city has agreed to reimburse the airport $25,000 for the groundwork.

“There’s grass growing over the groundwork we started. We just don’t have a revenue source, plain and simple,” said Slaton. “I guess they’re coming, I just don’t know when. There’s nothing we can do about it right now.”

Meanwhile, the search continues for an architect to provide the initial drawings for the long-awaited fire station and terminal at the airport. The city was notified in April the airport would receive $1.2 million in grant funds, as part of the $5.48 billion Katrina recovery package of community development block grants administered on the state level by the Mississippi Development Authority Disaster Recovery Division.

“The ad is out, and we’ll have a architect selected very shortly,” said Slaton.

The $1.2 million will help pay for a new Vicksburg Fire Department station and terminal, which will likely be constructed as one facility. The building will allow for more room for an increased fire department staff, additional offices for airport staff, a lounge for transient pilots and shelter for an ambulance. A 24-hour fire crew has been stationed at a building at the airport since Vicksburg’s 1990 annexation.