Norman Public Schools has acquired the land to build the Oklahoma Aviation Academy.

The NPS Board of Education secured a ground lease on Monday night from the University of Oklahoma at the site of Max Westheimer Airport across the road from the academy’s current site.

The two tracts of land in the lease sit east of Dalton Place, southeast of Goddard Avenue, north of Lexington Avenue, and west of Priestly Avenue and amount to about eight acres of land.

In addition to the ground lease agreements for the two tracts, the board of education approved the development agreement; declaration of covenants, conditions, and restriction between the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma and the district; a sublease agreement; and a settlement statement.

“It’s unique. You don’t see this happening a lot,” said Justin Milner, the district’s associate superintendent and chief operating officer. “You have to spend some time getting it right, and we feel like we have a good proposal to submit. This will allow us to move forward with selling the bonds for the OAA and start with construction over the next year.”

He said the district has not yet finalized the size or design of the building.

“This is a culmination of a lot of work by a lot of folks who have been meticulous in their approach and putting together the documents you have in front of you this evening,” Milner said.

The ground lease follows the passing of a February bond worth $354 million that earmarks money for the construction of a new aviation academy building.

Terry Adams, OAA director, previously reported that the aviation industry is the second largest in the state, worth $44 billion.

The board responded to Cynthia Rogers, OU economics professor, who said she was worried the proposed aviation school is being constructed too close to the Max Westheimer airport runways.

“As you are all aware, there was a new [Environmental Protection Agency] statement about the problems concerning leaded gas that are used by piston engine planes, and the EPA stated they can be reasonably linked to health concerns,” Rogers said. 

She said the University of Oklahoma will soon double the number of pilots, and that it recently expanded its fleet that uses gas planes.

“I had concerns about what this means for students being located very close to the runway with increased activity,” she said. “I have a number of ongoing concerns about making sure we’re not going to expose our kids to lead in the air which with little kids can cause brain damage, and with older kids can cause health concerns, like brain fog and asthma.”

Tony Rieger of Rieger Law Group presented the ground leases to the board and responded to Rogers’ concern. He said the closest point to the edge of a runway from the proposed school is 500 meters.

“And that’s with buildings in between,” he said. “We do multiple things that look at the property. We do what’s called an out-to-survey which then goes out and looks at the physical manifestations of the property and looks at the history of the property and determines what the conditions are in that property.”

He said he hired a consultant that looked at the property using aerial imaging, and he interviewed people to assess the land’s history.

“They come up with a report and tell us if there are things to be nervous about, or things to be worried about, and that report came back with no recommendations for any further activity,” Rieger said.

Annette Price, board member, asked Rieger if any of the reports examined air quality.

“Air quality was not taken at that time,” Rieger said.

Nick Migliorino, district superintendent, said it has taken over a year to finalize the paperwork to these ground leases.

“I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many attorneys, sometimes all in the same room,” Migliorino said. “Although it presented some challenges, it was an incredible process, and I do believe we are one of the first in the state to go through this process.”