As part of their plans to help bring economic stimulus to the area, the Wawarsing town board, headed by Supervisor Ed Jennings, has accepted a state security grant of about $600,000 to build a new Ulster County Sheriff substation and pilot's lounge at the Joseph Y. Resnick Airport. Because the estimate to build the new sheriff's office came in at nearly $400,000, approximately $200,000 was left over for the construction of a pilot's lounge, an area to be used by pilots landing at the airport to refuel, resulting in an addition to the airport that doesn't cost taxpayers a dime. According to Supervisor Jennings, the proposed building is scheduled to be up and running by 2010.

The proposed lounge and substation are detailed in a concept design provided by Shawn Bray, the engineer from Passero Associates who has been working on the airport since 2005. Detailed in the lounge's plans are a public area/lobby, restrooms, a conference room, and a flight planning area.

Jennings believes that the addition to the airport will lift the town's falling economic fortunes; it is Jennings's belief that the new lounge will attract more pilots to the airport.

"I feel that this is a tremendous economic tool, because I think that we can use this to bring people into the community," says Jennings. He reports that he and the rest of the board are actively looking for businesses, including those that are aircraft-related, to take up residence in the vacant Schrade and Hydro facility-sites which are close to the airport.

"It would be very simple to put a small ramp up to the building," says Jennings.

Jennings also says that the maintenance costs for the entire building, including the lounge, will be covered by the sheriff's department, making it so that the new building does not burden Wawarsing tax-payers.

Because the airport's fuel pump is operated on a self-serve basis, and pilots can land at any time, there is no log book which could provide definite details regarding the number of planes that land. However, David Gibson, the Wawarsing Airport's manager for the past two years, estimates that about two or three planes a week tend to land at the airport, which has a runway of about 4,000 feet, and that they sell roughly 10,000 gallons of fuel a year. Gibson believes that the town could certainly benefit from the extra security the sheriff's station will provide, and he thinks that the pilot's lounge could also bring more planes to the airport.

"That possibly would bring people in, someplace for them to get coffee, go to the bathroom…hang out, find out what the weather would be," says Gibson. "You might draw a few more planes in."

Vinicio Llerena, manager of the Orange County Airport, estimates that a 5,000 square foot runway is about the minimum size necessary to attract more airplane traffic. However, despite Resnick Airport's small size, Llerena believes the addition of a lounge can only benefit the airport and the town overall.

"When somebody comes in here and buys fuel, guess what? You're paying taxes on the fuel, and there are local taxes involved with the fuel," says Llerena. "When the pilot comes in here and gets a car and goes down to the town of Montgomery and gets something to eat, guess what? The local restaurant is now making money, and they're also including the tax on that, and it trickles down all over the place."

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