A consultant has recommended that Kelso airport’s runway be extended 600 feet to the south, rather than to the north, but the matter must go through a public process before it’s settled.

Extending the runway to the north would require the city to buy 21 property parcels and tear down several homes, which would cost about $4.5 million, according to a report updating the airport’s master plan. An extension to the south would require the realignment of Talley Way, which is South Kelso’s link to Interstate 5. That option would cost an estimated $1.8 million, including the runway extension.

To be designated by the state as a regional hub, the newly renamed Southwest Washington Regional Airport must lengthen its 4,400-foot runway to 5,000 feet.

The preliminary recommendation by the consultant, URS Corporation of Seattle, is in keeping with the recommendation in the 2000 master plan update to extend the runway to the south.

Extending the runway to the south is the best alternative in every way, Public Works Director David Sypher told the Kelso City Council on Tuesday.

The airport board and the master plan’s Technical Advisory Committee will review and comment on both alternatives and then hold additional public open house meetings, the dates of which have yet to be announced. The technical advisory committee is comprised of local pilots, aviation-related businesspeople and elected officials from the cities of Kelso and Longview, the Port of Longview and Cowlitz County.

In making the final decision on the runway extension, the City Council will take into account the recommendations of the consultant, the advisory committee and the airport board, Sypher said.