This map shows the preferred location of the proposed county airport. It's the same site that was under consideration for the same purpose in the mid-1990s. Planes could be flying between Gaffney and Blacksburg if members of the Cherokee County Airport Commission are ultimately successful in selling state and federal officials on the idea that Cherokee County needs an airport.

The commission members agreed Tuesday to select a parcel of Milliken-owned land between the two cities and adjacent to the Broad River as the best possible site for a county airport. Ironically, it's the same Milliken-owned site that had been identified as a possible airport site in the mid-1990s.

"It is the only site in Cherokee County where we can accomplish this today," said Vic Sarratt, chairman of the airport commission.

For airport supporters, the site comes with many benefits for its intended users, including close access to Interstate 85 as well as a Class 1 Norfolk Southern rail line that borders the proposed airport site.

"It's the logistical center of the county," Sarratt added.

The commission had narrowed down its list of possible sites to five locations, including two close to the Spartanburg County line in the Macedonia and Cowpens areas, one south of the Gaffney City limits between Highways 150 and 18, and one northeast of Blacksburg just a few miles south of Grover, N.C.

All of the other sites were rejected for various reasons, however, such as their proximity to the air space of other airports and terrain.

By selecting the "green" site, as the Millikenowned strip of land was called in site selection studies, the commission officially has made that parcel the focal point of an economic impact study underway that eventually will be submitted to the South Carolina Aeronautics Commission for consideration of state support and funding.

Sarratt expected the economic feasibility study to be completed by March.

A Cherokee County airport is seen by supporters as a vital economic development tool to help support existing businesses and attract new ones.

The proposed facility would handle general aviation aircraft, such as those used by companies to shuttle executives and goods as well as private aircraft owners. It is not being designed to compete for passenger service.

To help bolster their sales pitch to state and federal officials that such a facility would be economically beneficial here, the airport commission members also agreed Tuesday to conduct more legwork by polling area businesses, such as Nestle and Timken, about how they could make use of such a facility.

While all of that could help, commission member Bill Van Antwerp noted that one of the most persuasive pieces of information still will be missing from the research.

"We're still missing the companies we can't get (to locate here) because we don't have an airport," he said.