"Air Force study favors airport or tourist development at Homestead base"

Sunday, December 10, 2000

Air Force study favors airport or tourist development at Homestead base
By ERIC STAATS, Staff Writer
Naples (FL) Daily News


The future of oil exploration in the wilds of eastern Collier County could
come down to a big decision in the waning days of the Clinton presidency
concerning the fate of a U.S. military base near Miami.

A U.S. Air Force environmental report leaves open the possibility that
President Clinton could choose to give Collier County's founding family the
right to redevelop the Homestead Air Reserve Base in return for some of the
family's mineral rights in the Big Cypress National Preserve.

The swap is competing with politically well-connected east coast developers
who have won a contract with Miami-Dade County to turn the base into a
commercial airport that supporters say is crucial for attracting jobs to the
farming community.

Environmental advocates are whipping up national opposition to the airport
plan.

They contend an airport would pollute Everglades and Biscayne national parks
with runoff and noise, and set a dangerous precedent for other national
parks.

Opponents contend the airport proposal is especially misplaced in light of a
historic partnership between Congress and the state Legislature to spent $8
billion over the next three decades to restore water flows through the
Everglades.

Federal law requires a 30-day public comment period before President Clinton
makes a final decision — possibly in the final week of his tenure.

A decision in Collier Resources' favor would prompt negotiations with the
Interior Department over the value of the company's mineral rights and how
much they would have to give up for the air base.

Bob Duncan, Collier Resources Co.'s general manager, declined to comment on
what steps the company might take to convince decision-makers that their
plan is the way to go.

"I think it's up to the administration to decide what, if anything, they are
going to do," Duncan said.

The Air Force abandoned most of the base after Hurricane Andrew blew through
Homestead in 1992.

The Collier plan, proposed jointly with The Hoover Environmental Group,
would convert 717 acres of the 1,600-acre base into two golf courses, a
world-class aquarium, three hotels, a water park, a research and development
center, a luxury RV park, retail space and restaurants.

The Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency favor the
Collier- Hoover proposal.

But the Federal Aviation Administration favors a commercial airport.

The Air Force study — a five-volume document called a Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement — looks at the effects of noise, stormwater
runoff, air pollution and public safety concerns.

It's called supplemental because it is the second environmental impact
statement on redevelopment of the air base.

The first report, released in 1994, was challenged by environmental groups
as inadequate.

The supplemental report concludes that both proposals "could bring
substantial economic redevelopment" to the area, according to the document.

"The Air Force does not consider the potential environmental impacts of
either of these alternatives to be disqualifying," the report says.

A commercial airport at the Homestead air base could handle 1.3 million
passengers a year by 2015 based on 150,000 "air operations," according to
the supplemental statement.

The new report estimates the airport proposal would generate 27,546 jobs by
2015 compared to the Collier-Hoover proposal, which is estimated to generate
12,357 jobs by 2015.

An attorney representing the proposed airport developer, Homestead Air Base
Developers Inc., said the new report throws out environmental advocates'
"big lie" that an airport shouldn't be built at the base.

"I think it's good news," said the developers' attorney, Ramon Rasco. "Once
again, it shows after the most extensive study ever that the science proves
an airport is compatible with the environment there."

An environmental advocate pushing the Collier-Hoover proposal said the
report boosts that plan onto equal footing with the plan to turn the base
into a commercial airport.

"I think this provides an excellent opportunity for America to chime in on
how they feel about this airport," said Jonathan Ullman, the Everglades
field representative for the Sierra Club.

Chime in they have.

The proposed supplemental report, released in draft form in December 1999,
generated almost 8,000 public comments, according to the Air Force.

During the public comment period, the Collier company joined forces with The
Hoover Environmental Group to get their proposal into the running with the
backing of environmental groups.

The Colliers are no strangers to high-stakes swapping.

A 1996 deal added 108,000 acres of Collier land to public preserves at the
Big Cypress and Florida panther refuges and created the Ten Thousand Island
National Wildlife Refuge.

In return for the land and a $35 million donation to a trust for American
Indian education, the company got the right to develop an office, retail and
hotel complex on former federal land in downtown Phoenix.

Talks with the Interior Department about a Big Cypress mineral rights swap
started in 1995 but were shelved after the 1996 election, Duncan said.

After the election, the company applied for permits from the National Park
Service to look for oil in 25 areas in the Big Cypress National Preserve and
in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

The Colliers retained the oil and mineral rights to the land when the
preserve and refuge were created out of the family's vast real estate
empire.

Attached Photo:

Two Air Force cargo jets sit on the tarmac of Homestead Air Force Base in
Homestead in this July 6, 2000 file photo. After Hurrricane Andrew hit
Homestead Air Force Base eight years ago, the Pentagon pulled out rather
than rebuild, taking with it the base's 6,000 airmen and officers and 2,000
civilian jobs. The U.S. Air Force and FAA study of competing plans for the
future use of the former air base favors a commercial airport or using the
land for a tourist center.

homestead.jpg