It appears a decision as to what direction the Board of Commissioners will take regarding the future of the county- owned airport will not take place until Nov.7.
The county commissioners for the second time tabled a vote on the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) for the airport Oct. 17 to get some answers from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). A notice of a meeting for this past Monday had been posted on the county’s website, but County Manager Carlos Tobar last Friday had it taken down.
“We had hoped to have a meeting Monday,” Tobar said that afternoon. “But we still have work to do.”
The focus of the CIP discussion at that Oct.17 meeting was on the area of the airport referred to as the east apron, which is just across Lakeshore Circle from a residential subdivision. Opposition has continued since it was made known that two hangers capable of housing larger planes were planned there.
Board members Sammy Hall, Johnny Westmoreland and chairperson Emily Davis voted that night to delay the CIP decision again, while Henry Craig and Kendrick Butts opposed that measure. The key issues in the questions to GDOT were whether the county could remove the east apron project from the CIP and what would be the financial ramifications of that action.
Hall said last week he and Westmoreland talked with a GDOT representative after the meeting. They were given some verbal information that evening, the commissioner said. An email with more details was sent by GDOT the next day.
“The east apron can be removed (from the CIP) without any problems,” Hall said of the state’s response. “There is a possibility that we will not be reimbursed for money spent.”
Craig voiced a similar interpretation.
“It is my understanding, if the county backs away from the east apron for any reason, there would be no reimbursement” for the engineering and the county’s site work thus far. “Approximately $120,000,” the commissioner added.
Partially due to the widespread opposition to the east apron proposal, GDOT told the county it was ‘recommending’ an environmental assessment (EA) for that project as well as for the lower ramp project, much larger in scope and cost. The county agreed to the EA for the two sites, but commissioners wanted to know if the state’s funds would still be available if the east apron is removed.
“If the East Apron project is removed from the CIP, the EA then would cover the lower ramp project,” a GDOT official wrote in the document in response to the questions.
Tobar said Friday that, based on the commissioners’ comments and votes, he will have two choices available for their consideration. He pointed out that, had the board wanted at the previous meeting to pass a CIP without the east apron, such a document did not exist then. He has that now.
“I’ve got both, one with it, one without it, with correct budget estimates,” he said.
Numerous residents have spoken at meetings in opposition to the east apron/hanger project. Joan Crumpler has been to the podium three times. At the most recent meeting, she was the first to speak. She asserted first that hangers were never mentioned as part of the CIP.
She also said Tobar had indicated the east apron construction project had been approved for construction last year. Crumpler said there may have been discussion on that project, but she told the commissioners, “You didn’t vote on Nov.15, 2022, about the east apron. There’s no mention whatsoever of the east apron.
“There’s no allocation of specific money to the east apron,” Crumpler continued. “Not for design and not for development. And that was last year. In fact, per the CIP, you didn’t vote on the east apron at all last year.”
None of the commissioners contacted about the east apron’s possible deletion from the CIP and the county’s financial consequences of that action nor would make any statement as to how they might vote Nov. 7. Unless an extension is requested and granted, the CIP update must be submitted to the state by Nov. 11.