Mon, Apr 11, 2005
Final Blow: Concerns About Crowded Airspace
It wasn't the paperwork that killed
developer Dan Claassen's plans for an airport and industrial park
near Wichita. It was concerns about the airspace, according to
published reports. Now, Claassen says, "What's next? I lick my
wounds."
Claassen has been trying for months to obtain the necessary
permits for his general aviation airport near the Kansas
Coliseum in Park City. But the FAA grounded the whole idea because
of concerns that traffic in the pattern of the new field would
conflict with traffic from both Mid-Continent and Jabara
Airports.
The Wichita Business Journal reports Claassen's original idea to
create another airport that would serve as a refueling point for
aircraft headed from coast-to-coast was turned down not once, but
twice.
"The potential for adverse impact on the safe and expeditious
flow of air traffic in this congested area originates from the
proposed location," according to an FAA letter to Claassen, quoted
by the Business Journal. The letter was dated April 1st.
"Therefore, the Air Traffic Airspace Branch has determined that the
proposed Coliseum Airpark would be objectionable."
Claassen could develop the industrial park alone. But without an
adjoining airpark, he said, the whole proposal falls apart.
"The deal is dead," Claassen told the Journal. "There's no way
to proceed at this point without their blessing."
"The ultimate concern of ours is the safety of the public," says
Jack Whitson, Park City's director of planning and economic
development. "If the FAA says it can't safely be done, we certainly
don't want to be a contributor to something that could be unsafe or
potentially cause a problem."
"I had never dealt with a small city," Claassen told the paper.
"I didn't expect them to be extremely professional. And they were.
So to have the professionalism and support mixed together was
refreshing."
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