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SAFETY KEY MOTIVE FOR AIRPARK EXPANSION, OFFICIAL SAYS
By Bill McLaughlin
It was a different town and a vastly different tone to a discussion of the prospects for a second, crosswind runway at Miller Airpark on Route 530.
The scene was Silver Ridge North where the Holiday City-Silver Ridge Senior Coalition heard presentations from David McKeon, head of the Ocean County Planning Board, and Theresa Lettman of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, which opposes any new construction at the site.
Unlike a presentation Lettman made January 28 before the Manchester Senior Coordinating Committee, which was not attended by any county official, this meeting had both sides represented and supported.
On February 25, the state Pinelands Commission is expected to review an application for changes submitted by the county Board of Chosen Freeholders at the airport.
Walt Collier, who identified himself as a training pilot at the airport, said, "Crosswinds are absolutely dangerous. This runway could save lives. I wouldn't want to say 'No' to a crosswind runway and have a deadly accident."
Collier added, "I'd certainly put saving lives before a beetle, a snake and a little flower."
He referred to Lettman's short talk on the flora and fauna that would be affected by increasing the non-permeable surface with a new 3,400-foot runway, a parallel taxiway, expansion of the existing terminal building, moving the current landing strip 500 feet to the south away from Route 530 and construction of additional plane hangars.
McKeon contradicted Lettman's assertion that a previous try in 1991 to construct a second runway was ended by public opposition. He said the runway was plotted, laid out and landscaped in the early 1970s, but was not built because the volume of traffic at the time didn't warrant the cost.
McKeon said the airport serves many uses including training and staging areas for the state police, Medivac emergencies, National Guard and Civil Air Patrol, in addition to emergency uses by forest fire services.
A complement to the existing 5,940-foot long, 100-foot wide runway is necessary for exceptional weather conditions, he said.
"In the winter, with northwest winds," McKeon said, "It's very dangerous for the smallest of planes."
McKeon said the county, which owns the airport but leases the operation to a private company, has agreed to put in "well-suited habitats - put in snakes, birds, etc." but won't do anything that would attract wildlife to the ends of the runway.
But the birds and bees weren't on the minds of most of the two dozen association leaders in attendance.
They didn't wonder about the cost once they heard the Federal Aviation Administration was paying 95 percent of the funding with the state and county picking up 2.5 percent each of the $4 million estimated cost.
As for security issues, McKeon said the county sheriff's office has a 24-hour presence at the airport.
One woman asked about noise, saying her home shakes daily when military helicopters come over her house. McKeon said an ensign. vironmental impact study in 2003-04 found noise levels below federal guidelines.
But a follow-up question about volume of traffic brought further inquiries about flight safety. There has never been a major accident at the airport since it began operations in 1967.
Lettman asked if the county could "come back in 10 years and say you need to make the runway longer." McKeon said he didn't know the answer. "I can only answer for concerns of today. Someone in the future will have to answer that," he replied.
Lettman said environmentalists were "caught off-guard" by the rapidity of the approval by the Pinelands Commission professionals to approve plans submitted last summer and approved in November, and would want assurances that this would be the end of construction at the site. McKeon said county planners had been working on the plans for more than two years. He told the audience that there are no other plans on the drawing board and that the eight hangars depicted won't be built now. Some may not be built in the next decade, depending on demand.
If the Pinelands Commission gives final approval, there is no further appeal possible.
Other concerns included the 24-hour nature of the operation - that won't change - and whether improvements to the field will increase volume.
Since flights at nearby Lakehurst will soon increase from 8,000 to 80,000 per year, many residents believe the increased traffic presents a safety risk. There is no tower operation at Miller and none is planned.
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