"Airport Land Use: Airport director: Baseball complex creates safety issues"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Airport director: Baseball complex creates safety issues 
By Crystal Lindell 
The Oshkosh (WI) Northwestern 


A hotel, a college, a manufacturing plant and exhibition halls. 

All of those things are located near the Witman Regional Airport, but a
proposed youth baseball complex is being labeled a "safety concern." 

Airport Director Peter Moll is opposing a youth baseball complex on the 4200
block Waupun Road arguing that it could be a safety concern if there was a
plane crash in the area. 

"The big concern with a baseball diamond or even a stadium is the open air,"
he said. "There's nothing above these people to protect them." 

At issue is an airport zoning overlay that prohibits certain uses in the
area surrounding the airport. The area, which extends about one mile in all
directions except north of 20th Avenue from airport runways, prohibits
multi-family dwellings, outdoor stadiums, children's schools, nursing homes
and large day care centers. 

The proposed baseball complex on a 40-acre site on the 4200 block of Waupun
Road is on the western edge of that area. 

Despite Moll's and other airport officials' concerns, the Winnebago County
Board recently voted 33-3 to approve rezoning the parcel to allow the
Oshkosh Youth Baseball organization to eventually build a baseball complex
there. 

County Board Member Bill Wingren, who voted for the zoning change, said he
doesn't agree with Moll because he thinks the other uses for land in that
area draw just as many people - such as the Post Office, 1025 W. 20th Ave. 

"It's a silly argument. It's like they're grasping at straws," he said. 

Moll also said that allowing the complex could result in the FAA pulling
federal funding for the airport because it is against their guidelines. 

"When the airport accepts federal funding, we are going to protect the
airport, all the approaches and all the property for safety reasons," he
said. 

Exceptions to the FAA regulations -- such as the YMCA, 3303 W. 20th Ave. --
have been made over the years, Moll said. 

And other uses that attract large numbers of people are either exempt from
the zoning rule or were already in place before the airport zoning was
created. 

The Fox Valley Technical College Spanbauer Aviation Center, 3601 Oregon St.,
is allowed in the area because it has a flight school, Moll said. 

Also, the Experimental Aircraft Associations AirVenture, which draws
thousands of people to the airport each summer, is allowed because
aeronautical events and uses are allowed in the zone, Moll said. Oshkosh
Corp. was grandfathered into the zone. 

Moll said he does not necessarily agree with some of the exceptions, which
were decided before he took the job about one year ago. 

County Board Chairman David Albrecht, one of three board members to vote
against the zoning change, said he's not fully convinced that the baseball
fields should be built near the airport. 

"I don't think that just because we don't have airline service, we can
abandon that airport. Don't get me wrong - I'm not against the baseball
field," he said. "I don't know if I'm for it or against it at this point." 

Wingren said he hopes things work out because he thinks the project would be
good for the area. 

"It's darn good idea," he said. "This group is offering to buy this land,
construct a youth baseball complex and it won't cost the taxpayers a dime. "

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http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php

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