Airport Land Grab Was Wrong
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By Fred Korb
Special to The Pilot
Another $1.2 million has been misspent in an arrogant and futile attempt to bring heavy-load jets and commercial passenger service back to Moore County Airport.
Clearly it’s a new low in wasteful government spending, land-grabbing and cynical back-room shenanigans by members of the Airport Authority, Moore County commissioners and the state DOT’s Division of Aviation.
The Pilot reported this latest waste of taxpayer money Sept. 28. Here we’re told the airport purchased 12 acres, at the “college end” of the runway, to comply with “federal safety regulations.” Not! The FAA only wanted a few tall trees “topped off” to facilitate safety in the flight path, a job that could have been accomplished (with the blessing of the landowner) for a few thousand dollars, not a million-plus.
Next, the land grab. This part of the story reads like the greedy banker tying the damsel to the railroad tracks. The Pilot describes the 12 acres as “heavily forested,” but doesn’t mention it’s also the site of a family business, Poverty Hill Nursery, and the home of landowner and family matriarch, 89-year-old Eva Dowd.
At the July meeting of county commissioners, one board member managed to get on the record that Mrs. Dowd had been threatened with condemnation of her home, business and land if she refused to sell to the Airport Authority.
Commissioner Tim Lea cast the lone vote against funding the purchase. He told his fellow commissioners the Dowds “were given an option to make a deal, or eminent domain will come into play and we will take the property.”
Mr. Lea adds, “That’s not working a deal. That’s making a deal under duress.” And he points out, “When you’ve got an owner who’s close to 90 (years old), that’s an issue.” That wasn’t enough to sway his four colleagues.
Mrs. Dowd now rents her home from the Airport Authority. Yes, at reasonable terms under the circumstances. But at 89, people close to her say Mrs. Dowd still lives “in terror” that she might at any moment be “thrown out on the street.” Our newly formed Committee to Stop Airport Waste and Bailouts is not going to let that happen.
And finally, the back-room shenanigans. County commissioners approved the $1.2 million deal without advance public notice, so there was no chance for anybody to ask questions. The Pilot reported the Airport Authority acted “with minimum publicity at the request of the family.” Check with the Dowds, who refused to sign an agreement to keep silent. Know this: The deal was maliciously done in the dark.
All this (and there’s plenty more) makes you wonder why they wanted all that land in the first place. Why keep it so hush-hush? And how does this “authority,” unelected and unaccountable, have the right to seize private property?
This, in America?
There is only one explanation, laid out in the Airport Authority’s own development plan. The county is committed to finance, not “safety improvements,” as they’d like taxpayers to believe, but a major expansion of the airport, taking more homes and land, putting at risk the quietly idyllic character of our community and at a cost to taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars, much of it already spent.
Don’t get me wrong. Many of us who oppose airport expansion actually like our airport. But we like it just the way it is. Still, it has been a losing proposition for the county for many years. The airport cannot operate without federal, state and local government bailouts and subsidies. As the number of private aircraft landings drops dramatically, airport managers and the county continue to spend money they don’t generate.
Airport waste is being allowed to happen in spite of nationwide calls for government austerity, when schools are being closed and teachers, cops and firefighters are being laid off.
FAA officials state emphatically that they will not allow federal funding of runway extension, or any other expansion, and never had any intention of doing so.
It remains to be seen whether not only the public, but the federal agency has been misinformed about the Airport Authority’s intentions.
Airport expansion can only have a negative impact on the local economy. As Whispering Pines Mayor Bob Zschoche wrote in a recent op-ed, the airport expansion has already taken a toll in reduced property values and a lowering tax base.
And he adds, “Airport expansion constitutes a serious threat to the economic growth of Sandhills Community College,” an airport neighbor and “one of the giant economic engines in the county.” SCC president John Dempsey has said he opposes airport expansion.
This issue has been argued for years. It’s time the taxpayers of Moore County settled it once and for all.
Fred Korb lives in Whispering Pines.
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Comments
AmericanModerator 1 year, 7 months ago
Commercial, scheduled airline aviation will not return to Moore County and we need to stop speding money in pursuit of this . The RDU airport is too close and has too many flights by all the major airlines. None are going to compete with themselves here and can't anyway. The recent Delta service was anything but market driven. Grants made up for what couldn't be generated internally and as soon as that taxpayer money was spent Delta left. Without pay parking, vendors, and large rental car receipts an airport can't pay for all the security and other services required. Energy and funds would be better spent making OUR airport a private and hobbyist aviation destination. I believe our airport is well positioned for that. We need to do what it takes to attract private owners of all types of aircraft to include experimentals, gliders, balloons, and vintage aircraft. The current high fuel prices, cheap-looking hangers in too small a quantity, and indifferent board stands in the way of exploiting this market. If we can attract high end golf and equine activities we can do the same in sport and private aviation. The change that's most needed is in the board. The current members are too fixated on the past to see the future.
OldPilot 1 year, 7 months ago
Where was Mr. Korb when the Tyler's Ridge project was being shoved down our throats? Where was Mr. Korb when Esther Frye, of more advanced years than Eva Dowd, begged the Southern Pines Council not to allow a bunch of apartments next to her property? The airport has long preexisted all the homes in Whispering Pines, how could it reduce property values or lower the tax base? If Korb, Zochoche and the rest of their cronies who sinply want the airport gone thus criticize the airport constantly had demonstrated some, any intentinal fortitude by resisting encroachment of the type created by Tyler's Ridge it is unlikely that the purchase of the Dowd property to prevent such encroachment in the future would have been necessary. PS: citing Dempsey, the president of the SCC, as having an honest opinion in this matter is so silly it's funny, this is the same guy who furiously resisted the relocation of the Moore County Humaine Society to a plot near the airport. Maybe Dempsey doesn't understand the airport long antidated the SCC? Of course Dempsey supported Tyler's Ridge, which the developer insists isn't student housing, but Dempsey says is.
AmericanModerator 1 year, 7 months ago
Who came first, the airport, SCC, or Whispering Pines is irrelevant. If one reads the nice stone monument in front of the airport they'll learn the WPA built the airport in its current form. Yes, a government program with taxpayers dollars and the public interest is what matters. The current board runs the airport like a private club and violates sunshine laws consistently. The real point is thier pursuit of scheduled airlines is a waste of time and money when they could be creating a model private aircraft destination with better fuel, vendor, flying lessons, aircraft sales, and rentals. The interest and the money are here.
FredKorb 1 year, 7 months ago
The Moore County Citizens Committee to Stop Airport Waste and Bailouts is growing and eager to hear from fellow taxpayers. Please email your comments and/or interest in joining us to info@StopAirportWaste.com
Zoey 1 year, 7 months ago
"The deal was maliciously done in the dark."
Isn't that status quo for our commissioners? Mr Lea stepped-up (once again) for the citizens of M(o)re Co. Honorable !!
OldPilot 1 year, 7 months ago
Scheduled air service is not going to return to the Moore County Airport, ever. RDU is about 75 minutes driving time. Airline economics are such that a tiny market like Moore county isn't remotely profitable. In a deregulated environment no airline is going to serve an unprofitable market and anyone who holds out hope otherwise is kidding themselves. The Moore County Airport supports general aviation and charter service quite well. Having accepted federal grant funds it's going to be around for another 20 years if it never accepts another cent so all those fulminating about the airport might as well sit down and be quiet because the airport will be open and operating for another 20 years, at least! The airport authority is indeed a private club but anyone with an interest in aviation can attend the meetings and voice their opinion. Wouldn't hurt to talk to the county commissioners as well if one has an issue with the airport authority or it's members. The commission, after all, appoints the members of the airport authority. Of course it would help if before you start complaining you knew something, anything about aviation, bet then again that has never, ever, stopped anyone from complaining! Question: where were Korb, Zochoche and "The Moore County Committee" etc, etc, blah, blah, blah when their voices might have made a difference, when the Tyler's Ridge project was being shoved up our...? Answer: they don't care a whit about anything that would actually matter, such as protecting the airport from encroachment thereby alleviating the necessity to buy adjoining property to avoid encroachment. The tax paying citizens who are also aircraft owners and patrons of the airport appreciate the airport as a valuble part of the infrastructure of Moore County, think our tax dollars spent on the airport a good investment, and wish the Korbs, Zochoche, "The Moore County Committee etc" and the rest of the flat earth Luddites could somehow be dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century
FredKorb 1 year, 7 months ago
Dear, dear Old Pilot. I can’t decide whether you’re missing the point, or making our point for us. The Airport Authority’s stated purpose in wasting tens of millions of taxpayer dollars is to literally pave the way for commercial service, no matter how delusional that appears to everybody else. Airport management is already sending out invitations to the dedication of their new and improved commercial airport sometime within the next three years, whether they’ve landed an airline, or not. For someone, who claims to be in the airport loop, you are sadly misinformed. Are they keeping this from you, the same way they’re trying to keep it from the general public? Ask airport management at your next meeting.
OldPilot 1 year, 6 months ago
I understand your point. Your argument is pointless. Your idea that the stated purpose of the Aviation Authority is to "...literally pave the way for commercial service..." proves one simple and singular fact, that you don't attend the Airport Authority meetings or at least read the posted minutes of those meetings. I do. Fact: the AA has an "Airline Task Force", that task force has reported over and over that airline service is not a viable concept for the Moore County Airport, now or in the forseeable future, and there is no point in pursuing the idea, now or in the forseeable future. Fact: the Moore County Airport is a "commercial" airport, it supports Part 135 charter and fractional service, Part 91 general aviation, flight training, offers hangar space, 100LL avgas and Jet A fuel sales, some maintenance, etc. Fact: he improvements being made, such as they are, will do nothing to make Part 121 scheduled service viable at the Moore County Airport, they will however make the airport more competitive in the Part 135 and Part 91 market. So, again, where were you Mr. Korb, Zochoche and the "Committee" when you and they could have done some good by arguing against airport encroachment, i.e.: Tyler's Ridge and defended Mrs. Frye. Answer: you are ignoring the question because you weren't there and didn't do that which might have avoided the necessity of the Dowd property purchase.
FredKorb 1 year, 6 months ago
Encroachment? Against the airport? Isn't it the other way around? The encroachment is by the airport against private property owners and taxpayers on the other side of the airport fence. Appropriate development is expanding the tax base. The airport land-grab strategy is shrinking the tax base and harming property values.
StopAirportWaste 1 year, 6 months ago
PS (from Citizens to Stop Airport Waste): Don't hesitate to contact us at info@StopAirportWaste.com
Best, the Committee
OldPilot 1 year, 6 months ago
The airport antidates all the homes and business surrounding it, or trying to do so. Logic thus dictates that the encroachment by the homes and business built after the airport was established is in fact encroachment on the airport rather than the other way around. Logic has never been a strong point of any anti-airport crowd. The problem is you continue to ignore the question: where were you when your self-righteous defense of Mrs. Dowd, or Mrs. Frye, might have done some good? If you had had any intestinal fortitude, real interest or courage whatsoever you would have been at the many meetings of the Southern Pines Planning Board and/or the Town Council when they were considering the Tyler's Ridge project. If this project had been disallowed, as it should have been, the Dowd purchase would have likely not been necessary. Were you there? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Spare us your self righteous whineing about property owners, taxpayers, tax bases and/or property values.