(Radio Iowa) – After 14 years of legal wrangling, plans for a 30 MILLION dollar regional airport between Pella and Oskaloosa are officially paused. In 2012, elected officials in Pella, Oskaloosa and Mahaska County signed an agreement creating the South Central Regional Airport Agency to build and operate an airport in rural Mahaska County. Landowners at the site objected and filed a lawsuit. Mahaska County Supervisors who took office in 2017 tried to get the county out of the deal and there was a lawsuit over that.

In June of 2022, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled the agreement was unconstitutional. Last week, the Regional Airport Agency’s board notified the cities they cannot acquire the remaining property necessary for the airport, but will continue to own and lease the land purchased for the project.