CAA: GA News, "Proposed Expansion of Lake Elmo, Minn., Airport Garners Attention"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

October 14, 2001

Proposed Expansion of Lake Elmo, Minn., Airport Garners Attention
Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota


A $3.5 million Metropolitan Airports Commission plan to expand Lake Elmo
Airport is causing a stir among residents and pilots who use it.

But the MAC says it has no plans to bring bigger planes to the
two-runway airport that is home to 235 aircraft, mostly single engine
and light twin-engines.

The project, which includes new access roads, hangar rows and taxiways,
is aimed at changing the face of one of the seven publicly owned
airports operated by the MAC. An environmental assessment work sheet is
being prepared. The document will analyze the proposed project and any
potential impact on the neighboring communities. Public comment will be
invited once the document is circulated, which is likely to be later
this month.

Patrick Driscoll, an aviation enthusiast, says the expansion isn't
needed. "There are two very good runways to cover most of the wind
conditions. The only thing expansion would bring is bigger aircraft,
more corporate aircraft and then the Federal Aviation Administration
would reclassify the airspace and require the small aircraft to carry
more instruments," he said.

That's not the case, says civil engineer Bridget Rief, a MAC project
manager. The commission expects the airport to continue being used by
mostly recreational, training and small business planes, she said. MAC's
current proposal for expansion includes only one building area for
additional storage of general aviation aircraft, i.e. the single- and
twin-engine airplanes. The building area will be designed for
construction of relatively small hangars, such as 50-foot by 50-foot
buildings.

MAC says the airport needs more hangar space, as "existing hangar areas
along County 15 and south of Baytown Lane are full and cannot be
expanded."

The project is a part of a long-term comprehensive plan for the airport,
adopted by both the MAC and the Metropolitan Council in 1994. The plan
for the airport identifies a third hangar storage area along the east
central side of the airport. Access to the area could be off Blackwoods
Lane.

Eventually, the runways will need improvements, but that won't happen
for five or six years, Rief said. The current environmental assessment
and expansion plan does not include any upgrade to the runways at Lake
Elmo," Rief said. "We are simply not proposing that type of development
at this time."

Local government officials are waiting for more details about the plan.
Kent Grandliernerd, chairman of Baytown Township board, said the board
is worried about the potential for bigger planes and is writing letters
to express those concerns to aviation authorities.

Lake Elmo city administrator Mary Kueffner recently told a local
newspaper that officials there worry about expansion "beyond what's
reasonable for a recreational airport."

"We've always catered to the recreational pilot," she said. "We are
probably the only airport left that does."

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