A few months ago, the proposed county airport project appeared at a crossroads — some might argue, nadir.

A group of local officials heard firsthand from Federal Aviation Administration representatives in a meeting this past spring that the county’s omission from the The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) made it unlikely the county would recoup up to 95 percent of the total airport project cost.

What’s more, county officials had allocated funds to appraise the 400- acre Milliken property identified as the site location, but have suspended efforts to appraise the 30- some other tracts needed to be acquired for the project.

Despite those developments, Cherokee County Councilman Bailey Humphries said efforts are still underway to secure funding for the project. The funding source, though, won’t be the Federal Aviation Administration, but rather economic development or Department of Agriculture grant money secured by Congressman John Spratt or U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham to help pay for the land acquisition.

“We went up to (Washington) D.C. a couple of weeks ago and John Spratt is still looking for funds for us,” Humphries said. “We asked that they not be designated by the FAA. We want to work with the FAA, but the FAA has already budgeted money for this funding cycle.”

Humphries, council’s biggest booster of the airport project, admits he may have failed to adequately convince his colleagues of the airport’s huge economic development impact, especially in tax dollars.

Humphries said the county’s 4 percent assessment ratio makes it attractive for private jet owners from other areas of the country to hangar their jets here.

“Parking a jet here would benefit the county and school district,” he said.