At Plaza library, Crawford Architects presents an alternative plan for KCI

A Kansas City architecture firm sought public support Wednesday night for its alternative plan for KCI.

While airport and airline leaders recommend a new single terminal, Crawford Architects advocates saving and renovating the existing 43-year-old terminals.

“It’s fixable, without turning our backs on that investment,” Stacey Jones, a partner in the firm, told about 70 people at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Public Library.

Jones made his presentation at the invitation of Citizens for Responsible Government, a political group that is skeptical about the need for a new single-terminal airport.

Group spokesman Dan Coffey said that he believes Crawford’s remodeling plan could save the city $300 million and that the City Council should seriously consider it.

The Kansas City Star first revealed Crawford’s proposal in January. The architecture firm teamed with specialists in airport design, at their own expense, to provide the city with a renovation plan. They were concerned about the idea of demolishing Terminal A at KCI for a new single-terminal airport at a nearly $1 billion cost.

So they argued that Terminal A, which is currently closed, could be widened and renovated, with an expanded garage, at a cost of about $350 million. Jones said Terminal B could be renovated later, still saving money and preserving the current airport’s convenience that so many local people value.

City aviation and airline representatives dispute Crawford’s cost estimates and argue that it’s actually less expensive and more practical to build a new terminal. But Jones told the audience Wednesday that he thinks the city has grossly inflated its cost estimates for renovation compared with new construction.

The City Council’s Airport Committee is supposed to get a final recommendation on new terminal planning April 26. The council must then decide whether that recommendation should be put to city voters later this year.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 8:37 PM with the headline "At Plaza library, Crawford Architects presents an alternative plan for KCI."