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Residents Protest Expansion Project at Airport |
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The Troy Messenger |
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Date: 1/13/04 |
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by Cliff Lusk |
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With a crowd of about 15 people filling council chambers, the Troy City Council Tuesday heard concerns members of Oak Grove United Methodist Church over a proposed airport expansion. |
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"We're here concerning the airport expansion. Our church is owned by the United Methodist Church, but it's our responsibility to take care of it," he told council members. |
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| Among the church's concerns were the loss of land to project, airplanes being too close to the church, the cutting of trees in a barrier zone between the church and the airport, and damage to church building from noise caused by aircraft. | |
| "I understand progress needs to be made," Jinright said, "but I don't know why so quickly after the last expansion." | |
| Council president Johnny Witherington referred the questions to Mayor Jimmy Lunsford, who tried to answer them categorically and provided those interested with copies of a map depicting the runway extension. Lunsford said the need to expand the airport runway to 6,500 feet was established in a 1998 Federal Aviation Administration study. Another study commissioned by the city established the north-south runway as the runway that from both environmental and cost standpoints was determined to be the only runway that could be extended. Those studies were affirmed in a December 2003 justification study, Lunsford said. |
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| Lunsford also said that the would lose no land from the expansion, and that trees in a "building restriction zone" between the airport property and the church property would not be cut. | |
| According to engineering maps for the expansion project, that building restriction line would cut through one corner of the cemetery at the church. | |
| "Basically, this zone is restricts the height of any building and restricts permanent buildings," he said. | |
| As for the noise and vibration abatement issues, Lunsford told church members that he would get clarification from FAA officials and respond in writing to the church. | |
| "I can't answer what impact aircraft vibrations will have on the building - the engineers say it could be better (with an extended runway), but Ill get the FAA and the engineers to get me an answer to that," he said. | |
| The council also agreed on a set of restrictive covenants for Troy Industrial Park South, and cleared the way for the final transaction of five acres to Horn Beverage Co., Inc. Horn plans to build a distribution center in the industrial park and will become the first park's first tenant. Lunsford said the covenants limited the types of business activity that could be located in the park, and established rules businesses must follow in order to build and operate in the park. |
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| "The covenants are very strong and good," he said. "They will help us keep the park in good shape." | |
| Lunsford said the covenants "had teeth," and were designed to keep the park in a "high state of repair." | |
| In other council business, .............. | |
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| ACPA Notice: There is no ACPA Representative for Pike County - The ACPA is looking for a good person to volunteer for our Pike County Representative. If you are interested please contact the ACPA County Coordinator to find out more. The volunteer must reside in or on the edge of Pike County. | |
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