Debate Raged For 19 Months; Neighbors Concerned With Night
Ops
It took months, and
then it took hours... but all that counted in the end was the final
vote.
A Wednesday night meeting by the Brevard County (FL) Commission
lasted into the wee hours of Thursday morning, as supporters and
critics made their cases in regards to a master plan for Valkaria
Airport (X59.) When the vote was finally taken, though, at around
1:30 am... airport supporters won the victory, after 19 months of
often heated debate.
Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the plan, which
includes repaving two runways at the airport, building a new
parallel taxiway, and adding hangars for up to 100 planes, among
other much-needed changes.
"It stands to bring Valkaria Airport out of the stone age and
into the present," said Dr. Russell Minton, a supporter of the plan
and one of three former Tuskegee Airmen who attended the
meeting.
The plan calls for $10 million in improvements, to be
implemented in three phases over 19 years, according to Florida
Today. The FAA will pay 95 percent of that cost, with the Florida
Department of Transportation and revenues from the airport making
up the balance.
Critics of the plan accused proponents of ignoring neighbor
concerns when the plan was written.
"It is time for a master plan, but it's time for a master plan
for the people you have a responsibility to," local resident Jo
Faden told commissioners.
Of particular concern to neighbors are the planned inclusion of
an airport beacon, runway end lighting and a PAPI indicator, which
critics are worried will attract more night flyers to the
airport.
"I've been getting phone calls: 'If you build it, they will
come,'" said Malabar Town Council member Bobbi Moccia, an opponent
to the master plan.
Pilots who already use
the airport counter those arguments, saying those safety
improvements are needed. In fact, to appease concerns, a plan to
include full runway night lighting was removed from the original
master plan.
They also stress the smattering of improvements called for in
the plan won't fundamentally change the character of the small
airport.
"You're not going to attract a flight school, you're not going
to attract an airline at that airport for a variety of reasons,"
Florida Tech airport management professor Dr. Ballard Barker, who
authored the master plan, told the commission before the vote.
Opponents also questioned Florida Tech's involvement in drafting
the plan. The school's flight training program reportedly provides
the majority of traffic at X59.
"Did they not include something in their report that might harm
or help FIT? We'll never know," Grant-Valkaria Mayor Del Yonts
opined.
Airport Advisory Board President Milo Zonka called Yonts'
thinly-veiled accusation "disgusting,"
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