Plans are underway to construct a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility at the Kenosha Regional Airport. This is after the Kenosha Plan Commission approved the application in a vote on Thursday.
In the approval vote, the Plan Commission established 11 requirements that need to be met for the project to be completed. Following the vote, the proposal will be subjected to a public hearing.
The Kenosha Regional Airport plan was first presented to the commission in September as it was tabled amid concerns of inadequate information. Steve Bostrom, chair of the Airport Commission, and Corey Reed, airport director, returned with another report offering more details. According to information collected from the ground, the facility is expected to handle between 70 to 80 flights every year.
Reed said the facility will be used by base corporate tenants and will not be available for commercial use. He said it will for private use to inspect flights that are returning to Kenosha Regional Airport.
“This is for our base corporate tenants,” Reed said. “This isn’t for any commercial airline or anything like that. It’s for private use. This is for a customs official to inspect international flights that are returning to Kenosha.”
The proposal, according to Bostrom arose from submissions from representatives from organizations and companies that use the airport frequently.
The fresh round of public hearing brought new concerns into the conversation. In particular, there were several questions asked about the role and scoop of work of the customs agent. According to Reed, the role of customs agent will be limited to inspection of incoming flights only and will in no way be related to the wider population.
According to official documents, airport officials are proposing a 2,800 sf facility that will also be used as a satellite branch. An agent responding to inspection calls will be based at 3239 N. Green Bay Road and will report to Kenosha airport as needed.
