Hillsboro: Airport Forum Set for Oct. 27 as Port’s Unleaded Fuel Deadline Nears

The Port of Portland will hold its fall community forum on Hillsboro Airport on Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Walters Cultural Arts Center, 527 E Main St. The meeting falls 65 days before the end of 2026, the date the Port set to have the airport ready for unleaded aviation fuel.

It also comes after an appealed private-jet hangar project, Sky Harbour, was pulled from the City Council’s agenda. Both have come up at City Council meetings since July.

Getting in the door, or on Zoom

Doors open at 4:45 p.m., according to the Port’s community events page, which says Zoom is available “for the presentation portion only.” Registration is free on Eventbrite, where online guests pick the virtual option to receive the Zoom link.

On the Eventbrite agenda, public comment runs from 5:35 to 6 p.m., the airport presentation from 6 to 6:25 p.m., and a community conversation from 6:40 to 7:15 p.m. In-person guests get dinner, Spanish interpretation will be offered, and the Port’s spotlight guest is EAA Chapter 105, a group that introduces young people to aviation.

Other language or accessibility requests were due by email to [email protected] a week ahead, which by our count was Oct. 20; the Port says it will try to meet later ones. At the April 16 spring forum, speakers were picked by lottery and given two minutes each; the fall listing does not say whether the same rules apply.

The fuel deadline the Port set for itself

The April forum set aside a discussion table for the avgas plan. The Port’s Unleaded Avgas Readiness and Transition Plan, published in October 2025, says business jets at its airports use Jet A, which has no lead, while the other planes use leaded aviation gasoline, known as avgas. It names Hillsboro Airport as the “initial focus” of its switch.

The plan’s first listed step is to “ensure infrastructure at HIO can accommodate unleaded fuel by the end of calendar year 2026.” It also says Hillsboro had “the highest annual volume” of leaded avgas among the Port’s three airports in 2024.

The plan says federal law bars the Port from banning leaded fuel sales. Under federal grant rules, airports that offered it in 2022 must keep doing so until the FAA approves a universal replacement or until Dec. 31, 2030, whichever is first. The FAA released its own transition plan on July 30, 2026, tied to a federal goal of moving piston planes to unleaded fuel by 2030.

The Port promised progress reports at least once a year on its lead-free fuel page. On Oct. 21, that page listed the FAA plan but did not report progress on the end-2026 infrastructure goal.

What the City Council has said

City leaders have pressed the same point. In Resolution No. 2930, adopted July 21, the council urged the Port to keep taking “all practicable and expeditious steps” toward unleaded avgas at the airport.

Draft minutes of the Sept. 15 meeting, in the Oct. 20 council packet, show the airport came up again. Council President Rob Harris urged the Port to start an updated airport master plan, citing Sky Harbour and leaded fuel. Councilor Elizabeth Case asked for a work session on the airport with the Port, fuel updates and a review of airport-related development code.

Where the Sky Harbour hangars stand

The hangar project Harris named has its own record. The city Planning Commission approved the Sky Harbour plan, and two groups of appellants, Barnes et al. and Richmond et al., challenged it. Minutes of the Aug. 18 hearing, in the Oct. 6 council packet, show the council set a final decision for Oct. 6.

The Oct. 6 agenda then listed the item as “WITHDRAWN” and says it “has been removed from the agenda.” Neither the agenda nor the Sept. 15 minutes say who withdrew it or why.

At the Aug. 18 hearing, senior planner Ruth Klein said that if the appeals won, the applicant could file a new application, which could potentially get a Type II review not requiring council consideration. On Sept. 15, Alisa Sheth told the council she worried the applicant might reapply under a Type II process with limited public notice.

Lynn Coffin’s written statement, attached to the minutes, says “Sky Harbour withdrew its application” and that the company “has stated that it intends to resubmit.” Citing the city’s pause on new data center applications, she asked for a code amendment on large private aviation projects and a possible moratorium. The minutes record no council vote on either.

The developer had defended the project in August. Sky Harbour’s David Annin told the council the site would store only jet fuel, not leaded avgas, and that its projected 3,895 annual operations from 30 based aircraft fell within the Port’s forecast. A Sky Harbour representative told the council the city’s plan “calls for additional hangar space,” KPTV reported.

The Port’s April slides, made before the withdrawal, show the scale proposed then. Phase 1 was listed at $31.5 million, with 107,680 square feet of hangars and an estimated 1.98 to 2.69 flights a day. Full build-out by 2035 was put at $53.7 million, 22 to 30 aircraft and 3.96 to 5.38 flights a day, using Jet A only.

Reporting noise before or after the forum

Noise reports don’t have to wait for Oct. 27. The Port’s Aviation Noise Department page lists a hotline at 503-460-4100, an online noise report form and the WebTrak neighborhood flight tracker.

As of Oct. 21, the same page warns that “temporary staff shortages” on the noise team may mean slower replies than usual.

Top image: File photo, 2011: the Hillsboro Airport control tower, with Mount St. Helens in the distance. Photo: M.O. Stevens, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).