The Development Corporation of Snyder (DCOS) board of directors will meet Monday morning to review a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant application for a flight simulator at the new Winston Field hangar.
Executive Director Bill Lavers will present the application and the board will vote whether to allow him to apply. The agenda states that the board will vote on “other matters in connection therewith,” referring to the establishment of a drone zone in the SnTx Industrial Park.
Lavers discussed the grant and loan application during Thursday’s board meeting and directors asked to review the documents before approving the establishment of a drone zone.
The DCOS is seeking a $193,971 grant that will be used for a drone flight simulator, 3D printer, distance learning materials and equipment and tools.
The grant application includes in-kind matches from Scurry County and the DCOS totaling $348,000, including space in the new hangar and the 36 acres for the drone zone at the SnTx Industrial Park.
The DCOS is partnering with the county, Texas Air Museum and Scurry County Museum on the training facility, Lavers said.
Scurry County Judge Ricky Fritz, who wrote a letter of support for the grant application, said the commissioners’ court has not discussed how the new hangar would be used.
“The hangar has not been brought to the court in years,” he said.
Lavers said the simulator could be used by Snyder ISD through the STEM program, as well as through a program in partnership with Western Texas College and the Texas Workforce Commission.
Snyder Superintendent Jim Kirkland said the school district administration has not discussed introducing a drone simulator program to the curriculum.
“It has not been proposed to the board. We have not really talked about it as an administration,” Kirkland said. “That is not on our radar at this time.”
Lavers wrote in the application that the drone zone would create 30 full-time Snyder-based jobs initially and expand to over 400 full-time employees within five years.
The meeting will begin at 7 a.m. in the DCOS boardroom office, located at 2514 Ave. R.
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