Bulldozers aren’t clearing land next to Cracker Barrel for a rival restaurant, city officials say, but are making room for more hangars at the airport.

“In the 11 years I’ve been here, 50 people have asked, ‘Do you have any commercial hangars?’ says Tracey Dean, manager of Leesburg International Airport.

Certainly, there are hangars but there is room for more, but space is limited on the south end by swamp and Lake Harris, and the north by U.S. Highway 441.

The city is spending $1.7 million to clear the site and install infrastructure to create four half-acre lots. The space, which must be aviation-related, will be leased, creating revenue and jobs.

Seven years ago, a consultant came up with three options for improving the two-runway airport. One plan called for the closing of the strip near Cracker Barrel. It would have created more space for hangars and enabled the city to sell or lease land across the highway now vacant because it is a glide path for pilots.

Area pilots flooded City Commission chambers to protest shutting down the runway, so the city rejected that idea.

People leasing the site will have access by an extension of Veterans Road, which runs to the city fire station off the access road that runs toward Lowe’s.

Plans call for three lots of 21,000 square feet and one for 31,000 square feet.

A prospective client could combine two properties, Dean says.

Photos provided by Alan Reisman