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Airport News, "New Jersey airport dispute shows competing pressures of progress"
Tuesday, November 2, 1999
Lumberton airport dispute shows competing pressures of progress
By Leonard N. Fleming
and Lauren Mayk
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
LUMBERTON - The idea excites owner Barbara Snyder. Make South Jersey
Regional Airport and Burlington County more profitable by attracting
corporate jets and other planes to land and take off on a new and safer
runway.
After all, the Federal Aviation Administration had promised to pay $17
million of the $23 million runway expansion after it made the airport in
Lumberton a "reliever" for Philadelphia International Airport. The strategy,
approved 16 years ago, was to lure smaller planes and jets from
Philadelphia's increasingly congested airport.
What Snyder did not expect was ferocious opposition from residents who once
considered the airport a friendly neighbor and a community attraction with
minimal air traffic.
Many of these residents, supported by local and county officials, fear that
the expansion would attract larger and noisier planes, drive down property
values, and increase accidents. They also worry about disrupting wetlands
west of the runway.
The runway is now 3,911 feet long and 50 feet wide. The proposal to lengthen
it by more than 1,500 feet and double its width depends on the New Jersey
Department of Transportation, which is facilitating the FAA's wishes and
kicking in $1 million toward expansion. Two public hearings will be held
this month.
Currently, the runway can accommodate small corporate planes with up to
eight passengers; the expansion would allow aircraft with as many as 15
passenger seats. An airport official said in August that landings would
increase from 3,500 per year to 8,500.
Opposition to airport expansion is nothing new. Airports such as Wings Field
in Montgomery County and Princeton Airport have run into similar opposition
from residents and local officials.
Still, Snyder said she believed that she could find common ground with
residents. She said that talk that the airport would lure cargo planes was
untrue, and that a runway expansion would benefit the community by bringing
in business and jobs.
"When one is in business, you like to grow your business. That's what
businesses do," said Snyder, who pushed for the expansion with her husband,
Steve, before he died in a plane crash at the airport in June.
"Life is a compromise," she said. "I hope once the residents attend the
meeting in November that they'll get a better sense of the flights that are
happening here and the types of aircraft that are flying in."
Early next year, state transportation officials expect to complete an
assessment that will weigh the environmental effects of expansion as well as
the impact on the community and regional economy.
To expand the runway near the wetlands, the airport would need a freshwater
wetlands permit and a stream-encroachment permit from the state Department
of Environmental Protection. The airport has not yet applied for either
permit, said Sharon Southard, a spokeswoman for the environmental agency.
The main opposition group, Citizens Against Runway Expansion, says its
members do not wish to sink the airport but just want it to stay the same.
Their efforts have garnered support in nearby towns such as Mount Laurel,
Evesham and Hainesport.
Group member Julie Howes said she took pleasure in watching planes soar over
her home across from the airport on Ark Road.
Howes said she was unfazed more than 12 years ago when the roar of a small
jet taking off 400 feet from the house broke a window pane.
But her family's mood changed after hearing about the expansion plan to
attract more air traffic.
"We really love it here," said Howes, 38, "but as far as the expansion goes,
we think it's bad for our quality of life. I deserve to live in some kind of
peace and harmony and not have to fear for what is going on above me and not
have control of it."
State transportation officials want to work with the community to address
their concerns as much as possible, department spokesman John Dourgarian
said. He said the environmental study would identify the best option.
But having a longer runway, Dourgarian insisted, does not mean that bigger
planes are destined to come in. It is more a question of safety.
"It doesn't mean that you're addressing an accident problem," he said. "It
means that you're making it as safe as possible."
That's what Princeton Airport owner Ken Nierenberg wanted when his plans to
expand airport facilities - and later his runway - became a point of
contention among local politicians and residents.
Nierenberg said a settlement with Montgomery Township officials allowed him
minor runway expansions, but not before a nine-year battle, an array of
lawsuits, and $500,000 in legal bills. The airport lies in both Princeton
and Montgomery Township.
In Pennsylvania, residents and Whitpain Township officials fear an extended
runway at Wings Field. Airport owners last year ran into expansion problems
because a state law requires municipal approval for any airport development
that uses state funding. The owners are fighting the law in court.
Nierenberg said both sides of an airport expansion war eventually reach a
settlement, but not after tense battles.
"If you have a business, you either grow or die," he said. "The airport
wants to get more traffic. It needs to generate revenue. What's wrong with
that?"
The proposed expansion of South Jersey Regional has been in the works for
years.
In 1983, the FAA declared what was known as Burlington County Airpark a
reliever facility for Philadelphia's airport. Back then, the area was mostly
farmland.
The Snyders bought the airport in 1988, changed the name to South Jersey
Regional Airport, and began talking about expansion. At the time, Lumberton
officials were supportive.
Now, the area around the airport brims with housing developments such as
Marriott Farms and Sterling Chase, where residents are concerned with
protecting the value of their homes and property.
This month, the Lumberton Township Committee approved two resolutions
opposing the expansion. A week later, the Burlington County Board of Chosen
Freeholders also voted to oppose the expansion.
Margaret Gest, a member of Lumberton's Township Committee, said the
committee objected to the plan out of concern for the safety and quality of
life of those who have homes and businesses near the airport. The amount of
development in the area made them think twice about consequences of
expansion, she said.
"We did not have the big homes and big development that we have now," she
said.
The existing South Jersey Regional runway can accept single- and twin-engine
planes and jets that weigh up to 12,500 pounds, said Jim Peters, a spokesman
for the eastern region of the FAA. The FAA would like Lear jets and
corporate planes with 20,000 pounds maximum takeoff weight to be able to
land there, he said.
"I can guarantee you that cargo planes like the 747s won't be landing at
that airport," Peters said.
Jeanne Barry lives just northeast of the airport on Fenmore Road. Even
though it is loud at times, she said, she enjoys watching planes take off
into the clouds.
An expansion, she fears, will bring more noise to the area.
"It's already more noisy than it used to be," said Barry, 58, who said she
had been awakened by helicopters and planes in the dead of night. "And we
haven't even had the expansion."
Art Brooks, who lives behind the airport, said he might be the only one in
the neighborhood who supports the expansion.
Brooks, 64, is a pilot who owns a plane at another Burlington County
airport. He sees an expanded runway as an improvement.
"Expanding the runway is not going to bring those great big planes in here,"
Brooks said as he watched a single-engine plane take off. "I'm not one to
stand in the way of progress."
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