SUBLETTE COUNTY – Ongoing talks between Sublette County officials and the Big Piney Airport Board to acquire 80 acres to expand the county fairgrounds’ access, parking and camping are not proceeding smoothly.

That was the report from Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich to Sublette County commissioners Doug Vickrey, Mack Bradley, Dave Stephens, Tom Noble and chair Sam White at their Jan. 16 meeting.

The county proposed buying 80 acres of low-lying land that the Bureau of Land Management deeded to the airport board many years ago; it is a vacant property that might – or might not – need to fulfill the Federal Aviation Administration’s approved airport uses.

Although the county’s leasing the property was considered at one time, commissioners recently approved hiring an appraiser based on a sale that appeared amenable to the airport board.

Tuesday, Melinkovich related conversations with an FAA representative who said the county might not be able to buy the airport board’s parcel some distance from the actual airport facility.

According to the FAA, he said, the airport board might need to return the property to the BLM first. Or the county could get a longterm lease, wait for that BLM process and see what unfolded.

Melinkovich asked commissioners if they wanted him to pursue the purchase or walk away.

“At this point, we keep getting told, ‘Oh yes, it looks like it’s going to work,’” he said.

But so far no “plausible solution” has been reached.

Bradley said the county is not interested in leasing it. And if the property can’t be sold, an appraisal is not needed.

“We don’t want to lease it if you can’t push it through,” he said.

Melinkovich said the FAA has continued to say the property’s outcome is ultimately a BLM process. If the airport board did not need the parcel, it would have to undertake a perhaps costly study to return it to the BLM.

“If we can’t own it, let it go,” Noble said. The airport board could use it someday for car rentals or an airport-related business, he said.

Melinkovich said he thought it would be worthwhile to “get the temperature of the BLM on relinquishment.”

However, he agreed to “put a pause on the appraisal,” get an invoice for time spent and “hold off.”

Stay tuned for more about the Sublette County Board of Commissioners’ meeting in the Jan. 25 Pinedale Roundup.