CAA: GA News, "Supervisors to seek funds for Buchanan Field airport"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, October 10, 2001 

Supervisors to seek funds for airport
Buchanan Field's master plan, noise levels would face review; panel will
be created to keep watch over process 
By Sonia Krishnan and Denis Cuff 
CONTRA COSTA (CA) TIMES


MARTINEZ -- The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors voted
unanimously Tuesday to seek $855,225 in grants to update Buchanan
Field's 11-year-old master plan and examine noise levels at the airport.

The county will ask for money from the Federal Aviation Administration
and Caltrans to carry out the twin studies. 

The current master plan is out of date, said Leo Saunders,
representative of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for Buchanan
Field. "There are a lot of things in there -- like building a terminal
-- that should have been done 11 years ago." 

If the county wins the grant for the master plan, the money would be
available no earlier than a year from now, said Maurice Shui, the county
public works director.

Several airport neighbors and critics who spoke out at the meeting
Tuesday said they feared the master plan study would favor the interests
of the FAA and the aviation industry. They oppose any development that
would bring expanded flight service or commercial passenger flights.

In response to those concerns, the supervisors agreed to set up a
committee with representatives from airport neighbors, city governments,
pilots, and businesses to oversee the master plan study.

"We have to keep the control of the master plan at the county level,"
DeSaulnier said. "We need a public process that values all the voices."

Buchanan has no commercial passenger flights now, and a single earlier
attempt to bring in such flights failed. In 1980, Pacific Southwest
Airlines -- later bought by US Airways -- started commercial service to
Los Angeles from Buchanan, but the money-losing route ended in the early
1990s.

DeSaulnier said it's highly unlikely that any airline company would
start passenger service at Buchanan Field in the wake of the Sept. 11
attacks. 

It would be too expensive for an airline company to bring to Buchanan
the heavier security measures required at commercial airports, he said.

Others contend that the county simply isn't prepared to fund an airport
that could compete with the likes of Oakland International. 

"The death knell for commercial service at Buchanan was a long time
ago," said Hal Yeager, head of the watchdog group People over Planes.
"It didn't make sense before Sept. 11 and it doesn't make sense
afterwards."

   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

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