This community is fortunate enough to already have an airport in place. Many other communities, for many reasons, are not as fortunate as we are. Whether you personally use airports or not, they are a means of providing a community with an additional means of transportation. To lose any existing means of transportation would be a deep loss to the community. Look at how the loss of rail access to communities affects their status, economic development, and overall sense of community self-esteem.
Airports are tools of economic development.
It is difficult to measure or prove their actual worth, but they are tools available for use. Just before entering town from the west, I noticed a strip of businesses along the highway. McGregor and Maple Lake are two other small town airports that I pass on a regular basis. Both of those also have sprouted small business parks in the vicinity of their airports. Sure, some of those businesses may have been built somewhere else in town.