What's happening at Coral Creek Airport?

BY MARCY SHORTUSE - The Coral Creek Airport has had an air of mystery around it since it opened years ago. What used to be an abandoned airstrip full of cracks and overgrown with weeds has become a sleek, modern aviation facility. A new runway project is currently in the works there, one about which many people have been curious.

The runway expansion doesn’t just cover the concrete, though. Steven Busch of St. Louis, Mo., one of the owners of the airport, explained.

“What you see when you drive by the airport may look dramatic, but what’s going on there is related to the environmental portion of the project,” he said. “We had to remove non-native exotic species and conduct wetlands mitigation. What you see as you drive by is that we are clearing all that stuff out, trying to get rid of bad stuff and letting the good stuff grow. There won’t be anything put on the property there, it will all remain grass. We’re looking at some native Florida wild grass to plant along the road. We are also making some stormwater retention areas.”

Busch said the existing runway, which is currently 4,200 feet long and 50 feet wide, will be expanded to 6,000 long and 100 feet wide. Busch said they aren’t expanding for more traffic, but they want to insure that pilots who do use the airport are able to use it safely.

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