City officials wonder if plan worth expense
The Federal Aviation Administration will host a public meeting to review plans for a T.F. Green Airport expansion project on Feb. 8 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the University Room of the Radisson Hotel in Warwick.
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The Rhode Island Airport Corporation Master Plan for T.F. Green calls for extending the main runway from the current 7,166 feet to 9,500 feet to allow for planes that travel coast to coast. Consideration is being given to three lengthening alternatives for Runway 5-23, in addition to terminal and cargo facility improvements to accommodate an estimated growth of 11 million passengers by 2010.
The current length does not give planes enough takeoff length to make long-haul flights.
Concerns brought up during the public hearing will be included in an Environmental Impact Statement. The study is conducted by the FAA to determine the project’s impact on the environment, noise and social and economic impacts.
It is the initial step in addressing issues related to the expansion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. If the FAA finds no significant environmental impacts, the EIS is put on record as an “environmental assessment” with a “finding of no significant impact.”
Public scoping meetings about Green were first held in July 2002, but the EIS process was postponed while the Airport Master Plan was revised to include a major extension of Runway 5-23, which was not part of the 2002 Scope of Work for the original EIS.
On Dec. 28, RIAC and the FAA signed a contract with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., an aviation environmental consulting and transportation firm, to restart the EIS process.
A group of business leaders that make up a group called the Go Green Alliance plans to support improvements to the airport, saying expansion is needed to keep pace with regional airports in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
While members of the Go Green Alliance make the case for expanding T.F. Green, the city of Warwick plans to present its case questioning if expansion would lead to benefits that balance the loss of hundreds of homes, tax revenue and environmental impacts.
“The city of Warwick agrees that the airport has a positive impact on the economy, but there is concern over the loss of 359 affordable homes and $4 million in tax revenue to the city of Warwick, which will force taxes up dramatically,” said Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian.
Avedisian also questions whether an expansion will be more profitable than the revenue earned from the homes that have to be taken to expand because it is unclear how many airlines would choose to offer service from Green.
Officials from the airport have said that airlines and freight carriers expressed interest in flying coast to coast if the runway allows and there is little dispute that the extension would result in a surplus for the state.
The city will also ask that results of the Department of Environmental Management’s air and water quality study report be considered before the expansion plans are allowed to move forward.
In other airport news, 2004 was the second-busiest year ever for T.F. Green, with 5,509,186 passengers – up 6.4 percent from the previous year, RIAC announced Jan. 19.
The airport’s most successful year was 2001 when it flew 5,530,390 passengers.
The increase is attributed to the addition of two low-fare carriers – Independence Air and Spirit Airlines. Substantially more departing flights were also added – most notably to Philadelphia and Washington markets – where daily departures more than doubled as a result of competition on those routes, stated RIAC CEO and President Mark Brewer.
