Airport expansion worries residents

By Nancy Hansford
and Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Neighbors in southeast Fort Collins have flocked together in a determined effort to clip the wings of any proposed expansion of the Fort Collins-Loveland Airport.

Some 40 residents representing more than 30 homeowners associations met March 29 to form the Southeast Neighborhood Association. The group will represent the neighborhoods' growing concerns about noise and safety during the ongoing process of updating the airport's master plan. The association will meet next at 6:30 p.m., Monday, April 11, at the Fossil Lake Ranch Clubhouse.

An overall master planning study of airport facilities has not been completed since 1993. The update will re-evaluate existing and future aviation demands and analyze future facility needs. The updated plan is scheduled for delivery in July to the city councils in Fort Collins and Loveland, which jointly own and operate the public airport located between the two cities.

Residents fear that the effort could lead to expansion of the airport, resulting in more din and danger in their southeastern neighborhoods. Operations at the Fort Collins-Loveland Airport already are expected to grow by as much as 50 percent in the next two decades. Further growth could be fueled by the expected closure of the private Fort Collins Downtown Airport.

Neighbors also questioned whether their concerns about noise and safety will be adequately addressed in developing a new airport master plan.

Those doubts only deepened when Chuck Washington, a resident of the Village at Southridge, said that he learned of a public meeting regarding airport expansion and contacted his Paragon Point neighbor Linda Berger. Neither had been informed of the meeting although both live in areas that would be affected by the airport expansion.

"They said they communicated with us, but they didn't," Berger said.

That apparent lack of communication was the catalyst that brought the group together on short notice. Both candidates for the District 3 City Council seat, incumbent Eric Hamrick and contender Diggs Brown, also attended the meeting.

Brown praised the group for coming together to find common ground and workable solutions. Hamrick said he opposed any airport expansion that negatively impacts the area and is not economically feasible.

The group agreed that it needed to present a united front to protect their neighborhoods in the face of the airport's possible expansion.

One of the neighbors' top concerns was the perceived lack of a curfew or other methods of controlling the noise caused by aircraft using the airport. Laura Lamb, a resident of the Homestead subdivision, said corporate jets create the most noise during their night operations.

Safety was the other major issue with six public schools within the area affected by the airport.

Ron Phillips, executive director of Fort Collins Transportation Services and the city's staff adviser for the master plan update, acknowledged the residents' concerns but said they were premature. He said the area of noise influence has yet to be determined.

And, Phillips said, even though the master plan may call for extending the airport's 8,500-foot runway by 1,000 feet and constructing a communications tower, that does not necessarily mean a growth in airport operations. He said such improvements would be aimed at increasing safety rather than capacity.

"We're not talking about doing an expansion of the airport to accommodate more traffic," said Phillips.

He also said that there will be ample opportunities for the public to comment on the airport master plan at two meetings to be scheduled in the next few months. The dates of those meeting will be posted on the city's web site, http://fcgov.com/airport.

Phillips also noted that the city specifically provided for public input into the process by appointing Tammie Tauer-Niemann, who organized the neighborhood gathering, to represent residents on the airport master plan study committee. "Everybody who has something to say is being heard," Phillips insisted.

The airport master plan update is being prepared at a cost of $450,000, provided almost entirely by the Federal Aviation Administration. Established in 1964, the airport is a major economic engine in the area, generating $37 million in economic activity in 2002, according to the consultant preparing the master plan update.