"Airport Land Use: Airport runways: the wrong kind of traffic for a drive-thru"

Monday, January 29, 2001

Airport runways: the wrong kind of traffic for a drive-thru
Capital District Business Review (Albany, NY)


Depending on the circumstances, an outside event can either ruin a real
estate deal or be the thing that clinches it. For Jeffrey Thomas, a Jan. 4
mishap at Schenectady County Airport appears to have done the latter.

Thomas was the owner of an abandoned 89-year-old elementary school building
at Route 50 and Worden Road in Glenville, near the end of the airport's
east-west runway. Schenectady County had been negotiating to buy the
building and raze it, as part of a plan to buy up and remove obstructions
from the runway approaches.

In recent years, the Federal Aviation Administration has mandated stricter
rules about how close structures can be to airport runways. The Albany
County Airport Authority has been buying up properties for several years
near Albany International Airport in Colonie.

On Jan. 4, a twin-engine Lear Jet bound for New York City slid off the
runway after an aborted takeoff. The jet, carrying a three-person crew,
skidded off the western end of the runway, crashed through a fence and
stopped near the Route 50-Worden Road intersection.

Thomas said the plane came to rest about 50 feet from his building. There
were no injuries in the plane or on the ground, but the incident pointed up
the need to keep clear the areas near the ends of runways.

It also injected a certain urgency to the sales negotiations, Thomas said.
On Jan. 11, he and the county closed the deal. Thomas was paid $280,000 for
a property he bought for $130,000 just four years ago.

Thomas, president and owner of WeatherGuard Roofing Co. in Schenectady, said
he was "very happy" about the generous return on his investment. As for the
event that he said helped seal the deal, he said, "It's very fortunate no
one was hurt."

Ninety percent of the sale price was paid by the FAA under its Airport
Improvement Program, with the balance being picked up by the state and
county governments.

"The FAA was very generous," said Stephen Israel, airport commissioner for
Schenectady County.

At one point, Israel said, Thomas was considering using the site for a
Wendy's restaurant. But the FAA discourages airports from allowing places
where people congregate on the airport perimeter. Israel wrote a letter to
the Glenville Town Board opposing the idea, and pushed for the county to buy
the property instead.

 What do you think of this story? Post your opinion in the CAA Discussion Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID8

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