Field's Survival Will Go To Vote (Again) In November

In three previous votes over the past 27 years, supporters of the Blaine, WA Municipal Airport have kept the field open and available to pilots, sometimes by the narrowest of margins.

This November, opponents will try for Round Four. A ballot measure before voters will determine if the city council should consider closing the small single-strip airport. Although the vote alone will not bind the seven-member council to abolish the airport, public opinion will play a strong role in its future.

"The casualness this is being handled with is incredible to me," said pilot Bob Anderson, who bases his Cirrus SR22 at the field. "It is amazing to me people don't know how lucky they are. It's a gift from heaven."

Adding insult to (potential) injury, Blaine Municipal is in line for a 20-year, $16.9 million improvement plan funded mostly by the FAA, according to the Bellingham Herald newspaper. Those plans include extending the current 2500-foot runway, as well as installing an ILS approach system at the field. Such improvements would allow corporate turboprop aircraft to use the field, according to airport proponents, potentially increasing business travel (and revenue) into the city.

Supporters also say a larger airport might lure new businesses to Blaine, a town of under 4,000 people just south of the Canadian border that is home to the "Peace Arch." Of course, there is no guarantee, and supporters acknowledge that.

"Just because you have a better airport doesn't mean those companies will relocate to Blaine," said city airport commission chariman Doug Fenton. "But if it doesn't have an airport, they definitely won't."

Opponents see the airport differently, according to Blaine realtor Dennis Hill. He argues the land currently occupied by the airport would be better utilized for luring industrial sector jobs back to Blaine.

"In some sort of perfect world, we'd have some sort of industry that pays $20 an hour so people can live in Blaine," said Hill, who has led a PAC against the airfield. "There should be a national search to find the industry to put in there."  The land under the field could be worth as much as $9 million for development for an industrial client, according to Hill.

The land could also be used for a large truck stop to support truckers waiting to cross into Canada, bringing needed dollars into the city that has suffered from the devaluation of the Canadian dollar and the decline of the commercial fishing industry.

"It wouldn't be the prettiest thing," Hill said. "[But] gas stations and bars were the lifeblood of Blaine for 30 years."

Airport supporters respond that it might cost more to close the airport than to keep it open. In the last 20 years, the city has received approximately $388,000 in grants from the Washington Department of Transportation for field improvements and repairs. Should the airport close, the money would likely have to be repaid, according to DOT spokeswoman Nisha Hanchinamani.

The field's three tenants also would likely be entitled to some sort of money for damages if the airport were to close, and there is a chance any move towards closing the airport would be met with legal action. Washington Pilots Association president Jim Smith has already stated his group would consider legal action should the field face closure.

Above all, supporters maintain the airport is simply too valuable to lose.

"The sad part about airports is it is hard to build a new one," Anderson said. "They are almost an endangered species. We can't just close these things willy-nilly."

FMI: www.ci.blaine.wa.us, www.wpaflys.org