CAA: GA News, "Michigan airport growth riles residents"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, January 30, 2002

Airport growth riles residents
Officials: Expansion will meet demand
By Steve Pardo
The Detroit (MI) News

 
   HOWELL TOWNSHIP -- Like the population that surrounds it, the
Livingston County Airport continues to grow. 

   Crews are in the midst of a five-year expansion project for the
field. Concrete is being poured for new hangars while planes zip along
the runway nearby. Most work for the $18.5-million project should be
done by 2006. 

   Plans to upgrade the airport involve issues already familiar to most
county residents -- road renovations, construction and land purchases. 

   The expansion isn't without its growing pains. Buying the land needed
is proving to be one of the more difficult issues facing the county. The
county needs more than 189 acres of privately owned land surrounding the
airport, and many neighbors oppose the development.
 
   "It's not fair to the homeowners," said Josef Jachim, 72, who has
lived in his house on Tooley for nearly 10 years. "We're having it
dictated to us just like Communism. This is supposed to be a free
county." 

   Jachim owns 11 acres off Tooley. Plans call for a redesigned Tooley
Road to cut across the middle of his property. 

   "When they put that road in, they're going to take the best part of
our land," Jachim said. "We've planted more than 400 trees that are
going to be destroyed." 

   Other owners won't sell at the appraised value. The county has gone
to court over two of the largest parcels.
 
   Trust officers for Jim and Gloria Myers' property are appealing a
2001 ruling that lets the county seize the land through condemnation.
State law lets counties condemn private property if the land is
necessary for public improvement. 

   Attorneys for the trust say the county doesn't need all 108 acres
west of Tooley -- labeled Parcel 29 by the county -- and that the
development plans aren't specific enough to warrant condemnation. 

   The county also has started condemnation proceedings against the
owners of a 27.3-acre plot called Parcel 30, just east of Tooley. The
Roumayah family of Rochester Hills rejected the county's offer. If the
land is condemned, the county will pay $2.5 million -- the appraised
value. 

   Rising land costs and landowners' reluctance to sell could push
overall costs far above the $18 million budgeted. 

   "We are very concerned what Parcels 29 and 30 are going to cost,"
said Mark Johnson, airport manager. 

   Expansion is needed because demand for the airport is rising,
officials said. 

   "The airport is necessary for the commercial interests of this
county," said David Domas, chairman of the county Board of
Commissioners. "If you look across the board in Livingston County at
what the commercial interests are, you'll see a lot of the 'soft'
industries. 

   "These kind of industries -- engineering firms, consulting
organizations, light manufacturing -- need access to transportation by
air and they don't necessarily want to drive 40 miles in one direction
to get it." 

   The airport hosts more than 74,000 flights each year. But about 11
percent of the time, planes can't take off or land because of weather.
Part of the improvements call for more advanced sensors to let pilots
use the airport 98 percent of the time, Johnson said.
 
   Plans also call for added hangars, a longer runway and larger cargo
areas for planes and supplies. The county is scheduled to pay more than
$1.4 million for the improvements. State and federal grants will cover
the rest of the $18.5-million tab.

Attached Photo:

Tracy Dietrich of Concrete Construction in Howell spreads a concrete
floor in the new hanger as part of the $18.5-million Livingston County
Airport expansion.

Livingston County Airport Manager Mark Johnson holds a map and kneels at
the site of a future runway.

livingston.jpg

livingston1.jpg