By Debbie Rogers
MILLBURY — The idea of razing the airfield and building a manufacturing plant is still flying around, but Lake Township representatives have been able to voice their concerns to the Toledo mayor.
Police Chief Mark Hummer, who is also the township administrator, said he met last week with the Toledo mayor about the city’s plans for Toledo Executive Airfield.
Formerly known as Metcalf Field, the airport is located physically in Lake Township, just behind the administration building off Ohio 795. The airport, however, is operated by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and owned by the City of Toledo.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, in his 2023 State of the City address, mentioned decommissioning the airport and getting a lithium battery plant built on the site.
“We expressed the concerns of our citizens about our airport — located next to our school and our community — being turned into a lithium battery plant, and he understood that,” Hummer said at Tuesday’s Lake Township Trustees meeting.
He also said that there is no company involved with the possible lithium battery plant development.
Hummer said it’s a tricky situation, with Toledo owning the 400 acres of the airfield and looking for development opportunities.
“They own the airport. They lease it to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, which runs the airport,” Hummer said. “But all of that airport is in Lake Township.”
There are no 400-acre parcels in Toledo for development, he said.
“So, they are looking outside their bounds, and one thing they looked at was property they already own,” Hummer said.
He said that Kapszukiewicz was strongly given the message that a lithium plant “is probably not what we want to see out there.”
A Kapszukiewicz spokesperson said the mayor’s office had no additional comment.
Trustee Richard Welling said that the airport, which opened in 1928, has a rich history.
“Charles Lindbergh, in the Spirit of St. Louis, flew into this airport in 1929,” Welling said. “Amelia Earhart flew into this airport in 1931. … J. Edgar Hoover came in here in 1936 to arrest a member of the Ma Barker gang.”
He would like to see the airport nominated to be on the National Register of Historic Places.
Hummer said that the executive airport is the first backup for Toledo Express and a backup for Detroit Metropolitan.
He ultimately does not believe the executive airport will close.
“There’s a lot of things I lose sleep over. The airport closing isn’t one of them,” Hummer said.
According to the Toledo Executive Airport website, it is primarily used for corporate aviation, premium air freight services, law enforcement, flight training and privately owned aircraft. It is an FAA designated reliever airport to Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport.
Also at the meeting, the trustees:
• Voted to spend $50,000 for fire department radio upgrades, accessories and programming with Motorola Solutions.
• Approved spending $16,000 for asphalt to repair township roads, for HFRS-2 Emulsion, from Asphalt Materials Inc., Oregon.
• Voted to pay $2,500 to Buckeye Emergency Vehicle Product, Waterville, for
• Renewed the annual membership with the Wood County Township Association for $635.
