The Lebanon State Airport is getting an update, courtesy of the Federal Aviation Administration, but Larry and Danna Knox, who operate the airport, aren't happy with the terms.

The Oregon Department of Aviation (ODA), which owns the airport, received a $1 million federal grant for improvements to the runway and adjacent safety areas as well as installation of a new runway vertical/visual guidance system.

"We're pretty excited about the project," said Daniel Clem, director of the ODA. "Our role is to keep rural airports in good shape and improve them when we can."

The Knoxes said the state didn't work with people at the airport on scheduling, causing a hardship for the Knoxes, pilots of planes based at the airport and others who use it.

Clem said the work is being done in three phases, the first of which, design and environmental studies, is done. Most of what he called "dirt and asphalt work" on the 2,800-foot runway and safety areas is scheduled for this year. The safety areas are object-free areas at each end of the runway and parallel to it.

The new lighting system will be installed in 2009 at the same time as a final layer of asphalt is put on the runway, said Chris Cummings, ODA project manager.

He said the project is split between two years because the funds are being released one phase at a time.

The runway guidance system involves lights known as precision approach path indicators that a pilot sees when coming in for a landing, Clem said. The airport's present two-light system will be upgraded to four lights. Because the lights reflect only in a certain direction a pilot knows when he or she sees all four lights that his/her slope and angle are right for the centerline of the runway.

The work will bring the airport up to FAA standards but will not increase its capacity, Cummings said.

Larry Knox said neither he and his wife, nor pilots whose planes are based at the airport, received adequate notice of the construction start date. The state also gave them no reprieve days.

"They pretty well shut us down," Knox said. "They gave us a 24-hour notice of shutdown and no time during the two months of contracting to get planes in and out of the airport."

He would have preferred a weekend or two a month during construction for pilots at the airport to move planes.

"We have a public transportation facility here," he said.

He objects to the plan to do the work in two phases.

"They've decided to do it for two months now and only do half the job and then do two months again next spring and shut us down again," he said. "It could have been totally done in two months."

Knox said the state told him in the spring that it intended to do some construction at the airport, but said it was supposed to start by the middle of August so the work could be done all at once.

"They told us they could have tabled the money for this year and do it all next year. Instead the split the contract," Knox said. "The biggest expense for a contract like this is setting up and tearing down. Now they'll have to pay that cost twice to get the same job done. And we're going to have to pay for it with four months of close-down instead of two months."

The closures now and in the spring will have a substantial economic impact on the Knoxes. They own buildings there and airport operations provide a big percent of their livelihood, he said.

Knox said the state gave a four-day notice of a tenant meeting to he and his wife and pilots whose planes are housed in hangars at the airport. The notice said it was about construction, but because it did not say the airport was about to be closed, some pilots decided not to attend. At the Tuesday night meeting, the state said the airport would be closed on Thursday. When Knox asked about reprieve days, he was told pilots could fly in and out at night that Thursday and Friday and on Sunday, but not again for two months. Pilots had to find hangar space elsewhere or shut their doors.

"They didn't work with us to make it a lesser impact on the people of this airport. They just absolutely refused to, then signed a contract without ever telling us they signed a contract," Knox said.

"The whole attitude and whole way of doing business is not acceptable, Knox said. "It's just something that's not working for the people."

The current work is supposed to be done by Oct. 26, but a provision about bad weather days could allow it to be extended.