Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2008
BARROW JOURNAL
PAGE 3A
Airport lighting system may not happen
Airport continued from 1A
BY SUSAN NORMAN
D espite a warning
that county funds
likely would not
be available for the project,
the Barrow County Airport
Authority voted Tuesday to
pursue its own funding ave
nues for installation of an
approach lighting system at
Northeast Georgia Regional
Airport.
Authority members said the
“medium-intensity approach
light system with runway
alignment indicator lights
(MALSR)” has been in the
county's plans for eight years
and is urgently needed for the
safety of pilots and for the
long-term economic viability
of the county-owned Northeast
Georgia Regional Airport.
However, the Federal
Aviation Administration
demanded in a meeting two
weeks ago an almost 250 per
cent increase in local funding
for the project. And with as
many as four of the seven
authority members like
ly to be replaced after the
Barrow County Board of
Commissioners gets a new
majority Jan. 1, Tuesday’s
vote may not go very far.
Authority member Don
Holliday, who also is a past
chairman of the BOC, said if
the authority doesn’t come up
with the matching funds, the
airport in June 2009 would
lose $528,000 in federal fund
ing for the project and likely
never get it back.
“According to the FAA,
we would probably never get
funded for a MALSR system,”
Holliday said.
Under the arrangement with
the FAA, the federal agen
cy also would maintain the
system, saving the county
$50,000-$60,000 a year, he
said.
Holliday said county vot
ers previously have agreed to
spend $500,000 in sales tax
revenues on airport improve
ments.
“There’s $500,000 approved
by the citizens for the airport
to be spent on a priority basis
by the county commission,”
he said. “If the county com
mission wanted to make the
system happen, they could
make the system happen with
out asking taxpayers to pay
any more money.”
But BOC Chairman-elect
Daniel Yearwood told the
panel that SPLOST revenues
are down and that the county
probably would not have any
money to contribute toward
the MALSR.
Yearwood resides near the
airport and was propelled into
power this year by an orga
nized group of citizens oppos
ing any additional investment
or expansion of the airport.
Sammy Everett, the author
ity’s chairman, said the ILS/
MASLR project did not begin
with the authority.
“We are following direc
tions from previous (county)
administrations,” he said.
Even with no further author
ity action, the glide scope por
tion of the ILS is going in,
Everett said.
Lee Barnett, the panel’s
vice chairman, said it troubles
him that the authority is in the
position of not completing the
entire ILS project.
“This is a safety issue,” he
said. “That is what this airport
authority is about. We’re half
way doing it. It troubles me
greatly.”
On a motion by Holliday,
the authority voted unani
mously, with Jerry Thompson
absent, to attempt to secure at
least $350,000 from a bank
that previously agreed to loan
that amount as the matching
funds for the project.
“We will proceed to pursue
$350,000 and the next admin
istration can do what they
want to do,” Everett said.
Barrett said the authority
over the past eight or so years
has helped the airport turn
around.
“I don’t want anyone to
think this airport is a burden
to this county; it's an asset to
the county,” Barnett said. “I
hope the new administration
coming in will keep this in
mind and continue to promote
this airport. Otherwise, it will
be a crying shame.”
Tuesday's meeting was the
last regular meeting of the
authority in 2008. However, a
called meeting will be held at
noon on Tuesday, Dec. 23, to
pass the budget.
In other business, the air
port authority voted to:
•Cancel plans for hangar
construction, including ground
preparation.
•Enforce a lease agreement
with an airport tenant who has
refused to pay for a full year
of water service.
Fire trucks continued from 1A
“That’s when I approached
the mayor and council about
purchasing the new truck, and
now we won’t have to deal with
this for another 25 years.”
Mattison said his staff would
transfer from the old truck
much of the small equipment
needed to outfit the new one,
Mattison said he thinks it's
good for both the city and
county departments to have
ladder trucks.
“Hopefully, we won’t be
in competition. Hopefully we
will work together” Mattison
added. “We're proud they have
one, and if they ever need two
ladder trucks at one location,
we’ll have two. And if we have
some building where we need
two ladder trucks, we’ll have
them. So it’s good we can share
with each other.”
COUNTY
CONCERNS
While Winder is outfitting
its new truck, the county is
more reluctant to spend money
on that right now. In a Dec.
5 memo, county administrator
Keith Lee recommended to the
board of the commissioners
that the county delay $58,840
in capital expenditures, includ
ing $26,000 to purchase a four-
page list of equipment for the
new ladder truck.
If the newly formed board in
January goes along with that
recommendation. Post said his
department would use some
equipment already on hand and
purchase the rest of the needed
equipment with fire department
operating funds.
He said the truck was ordered
a year ago and is part of his
strategy to raise the county’s
ISO classification. The city’s
last ISO review was in 2007,
which it received a Class 3
rating.
In 2001, the county received
a lower Class 5 rating and
it hasn't been reviewed since
then.
“I think we can get it down
to a 4 or a 3,” Post said.
“We’re getting the new 911
center. We will be building
a training center at the new
fire headquarters. We’ve got
the new ladder truck. That’s
my goal, to bring ISO back
to the county and review us
and lower our insurance rating
so the insurance premiums for
residents and commercial busi
nesses also can be reduced.”
Post said the ladder height
would enable county firefight
ers to more effectively fight
fires in structures taller than
one story.
“If you have a 20-foot wall
and your nozzles are on the
ground, you are not able to
provide an effective fire stream
to the fire you can’t see.”
The ladder also will make
it possible to rescue stranded
people and will better protect
the lives of firefighters.
“We recently had a two-story
house fire off Hwy. 11 and the
fire was all in the upper floors
of the building,” Post said. “If
we’d had the ladder in service
at the time, we could have
utilized it instead of putting
people inside with the roof
collapsing.”
Plans by the county to expand the airport
runway led to a firestorm of controversy late
last year and throughout 2008. The issue was a
major debate in county elections last summer,
elections that saw a number of incumbents
voted out of office. The ILS matter the author
ity discussed Tuesday has been a lingering part
of that debate. The “instrument landing sys
tem” is viewed by some critics as just another
part of county plans to make the airport into a
larger facility.
COUNTY CONTACTED
LAST MONTH
Outgoing county commission chairman
Doug Garrison said he was contacted about a
month ago by phone about a party interested
in purchasing the airport. He said he told com
pany representatives he was going out of office
at the end of the year and that any decisions on
such a move would come under a new admin
istration. He said he met with the firm, but that
there was no offer on the table.
During Tuesday's authority meeting, airport
director Glen Boyd said his staff was provid
ing information to Propeller Investments and
that if an offer were received, it would be
presented to both the authority and board of
commissioners.
Boyd said he was contacted in late November
by an economic development person who had
an interest in the airport.
“We presented the airport and they presented
their firm,” Boyd said.
The airport manager called the idea to priva
tize the airport “unique.”
“The proposal they are considering is very
unique and involves the possibility of privatiz
ing the airport,” Boyd said. “Clearly, there are
many issues that would need to be dealt with
in order to make this an acceptable concept -
the FAA, county commissioners and airport
authority will all need to be satisfied with the
proposal.”
Garrison also said that his administration
would not take any action on the idea before the
first of the year. The chairman said the facility
is owned by the county’s airport authority, but
that he didn’t know the legal obligations of the
county government that might be involved in
any potential sale.
The chairman said that while it might be a
good move for the county to privatize its air
port, making the facility taxable and relieving
the county’s debt obligation for the adjoin
ing industrial land, he didn’t know the scope
Propeller's plans, other than it was apparently
for some kind of “light” passenger service.
LAST WEEK
Early last week, Garrison alluded to the pos
sibility of the county privatizing the airport by
selling it. Garrison’s remarks came during his
farewell comments to the board and were not
part of the meeting's official business.
Nevertheless, the comments caught the
attention of activists who have been oppos
ing county plans to expand the airport beyond
local general aviation use. Friday morning,
Concerned Citizens of Barrow County, an
airport activist group that has been following
the issue, put out a call to members about the
county’s discussions, saying they “potentially
could become a tireless nightmare for all citi
zens that work and or live in Barrow.”
The CCBC email said the group was con
cerned that the county might attempt to do
a quick deal before Jan. 1 when new people
take their BOC seats. The new BOC will
likely replace a majority of airport authority
members after Jan. 1, say those close to the
situation.
MEETING LAST WEEK
Yearwood said he was invited to meet with
some of Propeller’s leaders last week. Yearwood
said that he, along with Linda Moore, Barrow
County Chamber of Commerce’s vice president
for economic development; David Smith of the
Winder-Barrow Joint Development Authority,
which owns industrial land next to the airport;
and county administrator Keith Lee met with
officials with the firm on Dec. 9.
Yearwood, who was elected last summer and
takes office Jan. 1, said he told the company
that he couldn’t commit to anything.
“I told them to make a package and I would
present that to the board and the citizens of
Barrow County,” he said.
Yearwood said it was his understanding that
the firm wanted to offer some kind of regional
passenger service with planes up to 737 in
size.
Outgoing county commissioner Bill Healan
said that he didn't know anything about the
discussions until this week after Garrison’s
remarks Tuesday night. Healan, who has been
critical of the county's earlier airport expan
sion plans, said the facility doesn’t currently
have the kind of infrastructure to support any
thing beyond general aviation use. The run
way, he said, would have to be totally rebuilt
to handle larger aircraft.
LONG CONTROVERSY
Airport expansion plans have been contro
versial in Northeast Georgia for the last 20
years after the City of Atlanta made a high
profile bid to build a second Atlanta airport
in the area. A 10,000-acre site was targeted
in Jackson County in 1989, but a firestorm of
protests put a stop to that effort.
Business leaders from nearby Athens-Clarke
County have long promoted the idea of a
regional airport in Northeast Georgia, although
that county’s airport has had a difficult time
keeping one regional carrier in place. Area
business leaders created a regional airport
group in the 1990s, but it has not been active
in recent years.
The issue in Barrow County began in 2005
when the airport changed its name from
Winder-Barrow Airport to Northeast Georgia
Regional Airport.
In 2007, the county bought 250 acres for
expansion and condemned another 16-acres
later in the year. In addition, the FAA
announced in 2007 it was funding a $1 million
study on building another airport to serve the
Atlanta area.
Controversy about those moves ensued and
the Barrow BOC adopted a resolution in late
2007 that said the facility would not become a
second Atlanta airport.
But discussion over extending one runway
to 7,000’ continued into 2008. Allegations
over insider real estate deals around the air
port were rampant during the 2008 elections
and the airport expansion controversy played
a large part in the overturning of a majority of
the BOC, including the election of Yearwood
as chairman.
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