"Fort Lauderdale airport chief backs south runway plan"

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Airport chief backs south runway plan
For Broward's new interim airport director, the next six months are
considered pivotal to expansion plans at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood
International Airport, which may be altered by county commissioners.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD
The Miami (FL) Herald


Despite years of uncertainty and challenges to a runway expansion plan, the
new director at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport still sees
the original south runway concept as the one that will eventually be built.

''If something else jumps out and looks a whole lot better, obviously I'm
sure the board will take a look at it,'' said Bob Bielek, who was appointed
as interim director in late October after Tom Jargiello resigned.

But Bielek also said he's ''not hearing any surprises'' in his conversations
with the Federal Aviation Administration, which has long advocated a second
major runway to handle projected growth and avoid delays in the U.S. airport
system.

Still, some Broward County commissioners are asking whether slower growth
and airline consolidation are eliminating the need to expand. They are
waiting on yet another report from the FAA about how various runway
alternatives would affect the environment. The report -- an Environmental
Impact Statement -- would be the second version produced since the new
runway became a gleam in commissioners' eyes, 15 years ago.

The FAA announced late last month that the document will be delayed until
March while the agency takes into account projections showing that growth
and demand at the airport won't be as high as they have long been forecast.

Bielek said he is confident that despite the recent growth projections, the
FAA is still interested in a new runway.

''The real story with all of this is that the decrease in the forecast and
the slower rate of growth doesn't affect the need for the project, and it
doesn't affect the timing of the project,'' said Bielek, an engineer whose
experience at the airport goes back two decades. He formerly worked for the
FAA and approved the plan for the existing terminal buildings and road
configurations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood.

The lengthy federal environmental approval process is required any time a
new runway is proposed. Eventually, a completed environmental impact
statement details what measures must be taken to protect the environment,
including noise-proofing homes, protecting wetlands and monitoring air
quality.

The main alternative would add a parallel runway south of the existing
east-west runway. The 9,000-foot concrete strip would be elevated almost 40
feet to travel over U.S. 1 and a rail line. It is projected to open in 2012.

Despite Bielek's assurances, some county commissioners remain skeptical
about expansion plans. And turnover on the County Commission opens the
possibility of a change in the board's political course.

EXAMINING CONCERNS

At a minimum, commissioners need to take a close look at whether the
concerns people have about air quality and noise -- combined with decreasing
demand -- call into question the need for another runway, said Commissioner
Suzanne Gunzburger.

'Maybe there's a time to say `no' to massive development,'' Gunzburger said.

The commission also needs to examine the ongoing consolidation in the
airline business and the possibility that US Airways and Delta Air Lines
will merge, said Commissioner John Rodstrom, who said he will try to talk
his fellow commissioners into shorter runway options -- or no new runway at
all.

''I think the airport's as big as it's going to be,'' Rodstrom said.

Rodstrom and other commissioners say they're also concerned about the
initial results of a noise study, which will be released around the same
time as the new environmental impact statement.

A draft version of the study shows that the south runway would generate
enough noise to require some sort of relief for 1,134 people in 523 homes.

But the study doesn't call for buying out whole neighborhoods -- just
soundproofing homes and relocating as many as 253 mobile homes. A scarcity
of land and tougher rules for mobile homes could make that a difficult
process. Commissioners said they also want to consider some soundproofing
help for people who live in noisy neighborhoods that don't meet the FAA's
threshold.

NOT ENTHUSIASTIC

Commissioner Lois Wexler says she's not enthusiastic about the original
runway proposal. She said she hopes her fellow commissioners will have
serious conversations about what they want the airport to be.

''But I have not made a determination one way or another,'' Wexler said.
``I've just tried very hard to gather as much information and be as
sensitive to everyone's needs, including the economic needs of the county.''

Broward started planning a new south runway in 1991. In 2002, the FAA held
public meetings for the first environmental impact statement.

After neighborhood activists and county commissioners questioned those
plans, the FAA abandoned its initial environmental review and went back to
the drawing board to look at better ways to build the south runway and other
runway configurations.


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