HomeMy WebLinkAbout08262019 City Council Laydown - Lynda Paquette y�o wn
Good evening Mayor, Council, Administration, Members of the public,
Lynda Paquette, Outside city limits and PACAB Commissioner
The airport is on your agenda this evening. Here's my takeaway. DOT
believes Seward Administration has understood for several years that the
2.2 alternative was what DOT was moving forward with building. Somehow
the ramifications of this decision have escaped the vast majority of
Sewardites until recently.
While there is a "long runway" extension possible with the 2..2 It is not and
will likely never be acceptable to the community. The 4000' version of the
2.2 alternative extends into the wetlands and over the bay.
We know from public testimony that the community is united that they want
alternative 1 .1 , which is the existing long runway, repaired, restored, and
preserved and protected. This means dealing with the river. It also means
as designed, no FAA funding and no current help from DOT. If Seward
wants only to pursue the 1 .1 alternative Seward must take ownership of the
airport or form an airport authority.
From the DOT's point of view, they own an airport in disrepair. They need to
fix it to preserve the airport's functionality. Their bank or funding source,
predominantly FAA, won't fund alternative 1 .1 as designed because of the
river and lack of demonstrated need for a long runway. There are specific
criteria that alternative 1 .1 can't meet as a project currently. So DOT has
over the past 5 years moved forward with alternative 2.2 because it can
meet the necessary criteria for FAA, FEMA, etc., etc.
Here is what appear to be the choices:
We can pump the brakes on the existing DOT 2.2 and pursue 1 .1
immediately via an airport authority or ownership
We can allow 2.2 to move forward while we seek funding for 1 .1
We can explore a compromise with 1 .1 using FAA funding from the 2.2
project instead applied to 3300 of the existing long runway of 1 .1 . Then
Seward could secure financing for the rest of the 1 .1 alternative, preserving
the long runway.
Let this cause bring the community together to find a workable solution.
Let's form a task force of stakeholders immediately to determine the best
option moving forward for the community.