Editor’s Note: The following two pieces – by Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian and R.I. Airport Corporation President and CEO Kevin Dillon – are being published simultaneously for the first time in order that each may provide context for the other.
Throughout my nearly 10-year tenure as Warwick’s mayor, the city’s residents, its business community and its large network of community-based organizations have been subjected to numerous proposals by the R.I. Airport Corporation (RIAC) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to expand the main runway at T.F. Green Airport.
As long as I have been mayor, the city has recognized that the airport is an important component of Rhode Island’s economy. In fact, in a 2008 letter to the FAA, the city suggested that an extension of the main runway to 8,300 feet would satisfy RIAC’s stated purpose and need for a longer main runway – to provide nonstop West Coast service – at a substantial savings to the taxpayer, while benefiting the state and local economy, and at the same time dramatically reducing the adverse effect on the host community.
The city’s and my overwhelming concerns with the multiple RIAC and FAA proposals throughout the past decade are based mainly on the environmental and quality-of-life impacts resulting from the expansion of the airport, which is located in the geographic center of Warwick. The city understands these challenges firsthand and continues to work for state and federal government recognition that expanding the airport infrastructure without proper mitigation will have a harmful effect not only on the host community but on the entire state.
Let me be clear: the city of Warwick is not opposed to runway improvements at T.F. Green. Warwick is opposed to a project that does not promote sensible airport-infrastructure improvements that are environmentally responsible and do not fairly balance the needs of the airport with the health and safety of families and children who live within its shadow. It is my responsibility as the city’s mayor to protect its residents, the business community and community organizations from an irresponsible and unjustified airport expansion project and to ensure the long-term environmental and fiscal well-being of the city.
RIAC’s most recent proposal to expand the main runway to 8,700 feet, while not the city’s preferred option, has been the most reasonable to date. However, contrary to their assertions, RIAC and the FAA have continued to minimize and marginalize Warwick’s very real, reasonable and legitimate concerns. To compound this issue, RIAC has publicly misrepresented through the media and at several community meetings that it is close to an agreement with the city regarding issues related to the 8,700-foot proposal.
• Home acquisitions. RIAC continues to proclaim that only 11 properties will need to be acquired as part of the 8,700-foot proposal, when, in reality, this figure represents only the mandatory condemnation necessary for the Main Avenue roadway relocation. In fact, in excess of 220 homes will be targeted for takings for runway safety and noise purposes under FAA standards. The fact of the matter is that the actual loss of homes is far greater than that claimed by RIAC officials.
This is compounded by the fact that RIAC is still acquiring homes under previous programs that began some six years ago, leaving residents in the dark as to when their homes will be taken, and thus unable to plan for ordinary home expenses and repairs. In addition, persons whose homes were slated for taking have had to remain exposed to the continuous, deleterious effects of the airport’s operational activities. Also troubling is that a disproportionate number of the homes impacted by the runway expansion (91 percent) are considered “affordable” and RIAC has no plan to replace this finite housing stock.
In order to address the housing issue, the city has simply requested that RIAC and the FAA fund an independent housing study and agree to an acquisition timetable linked to construction projects with tangible funding sources. RIAC and the FAA have refused. Instead, they propose “business as usual” – leaving residents on their own and in harm’s way to cope with increased airport noise, pollution and a degraded quality of life indefinitely while RIAC and the FAA expend their resources on runway expansion.
• Land use/air quality. The proposed runway expansion would extend the airport’s fence line and aircraft operations within a stone’s throw of two elementary schools, John Wickes School and St. Rose of Lima. This will result in increased noise and air pollution exposure for the children who attend these schools. Decreased enrollment at John Wickes is also one of the byproducts of the proposed runway extension due to the fact that a substantial portion of that the school district will be eliminated by RIAC/FAA.
In order to address this issue, the city has requested RIAC to consider the acquisition of John Wickes School, or, in the alternative, to conduct air-quality monitoring at the two sites to ensure the health and safety of the school children. RIAC officials have offered to install one new air-quality monitoring station in the vicinity of the two schools and perform air-quality monitoring until 2015. This response is incomprehensible in that – according to RIAC’s own Environmental Impact Statement report – the full scope of the project will not be complete until the year 2020 – five years after it proposes to cease air-quality monitoring. In effect, what RIAC has said is that it will monitor the schools for the time being, but will stop five years before the runway is operational. The reason expressed by RIAC officials? It’s too expensive to continue the mo•itoring.
The city and I believe that these recreational programs are invaluable assets to the community and that this issue must be resolved directly, as a cloud remains over the future of these programs, potentially resulting in decreasing membership and the eventual failure of the programs.
The city has asked that RIAC find a suitable new location for these recreation leagues. In recent history, RIAC has alternately stated that the fields may remain, that relocation to the Community College of Rhode Island may be viable, that CCRI is not viable and/or that RIAC is working on a solution. To date no tangible proposal has been offered•by RIAC.
• Environmental Impacts. Recognizing that residents and environmental advocates alike have serious concerns about the impacts of airport operations on general health as well as air, noise and water quality, we have asked RIAC to create an educational program for affected residents so they may be aware of the negative environmental conditions that will result from the expansion. To date RIAC has not acknowledged the city’s request.
The city also has requested that RIAC maintain and potentially expand the existing air quality monitoring program and to improve the water quality for Buckeye Brook by eliminating discharge of pollutants into the brook and its watershed. RIAC has•refused.
• PILOT Assistance: Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) is a state reimbursement program available to local communities to make up for lost tax revenue resulting from state facilities and institutions that are tax exempt. Other communities, like Johnston and North Kingstown, receive funds through agreements with state agencies such as the R.I. Resource Recovery Corporation or the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
Unlike other communities that receive PILOT or other funds, Warwick is not compensated for revenue lost to the airport.
Recognizing that the tax burden of airport expansion has been shifted to Warwick’s residents, the city has requested that RIAC work with Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and the General Assembly to secure an agreement that would provide reasonable compensation to help alleviate some of the burden on Warwick’s taxpayers. RIAC’s response: The airport is an economic engine and that if it were not located in Warwick, then the city would not have the benefit of taxes from the hotels and car-rental agencies.
The city believes that all its expressed concerns are reasonable requests and believes that solutions are available to protect people’s investment in their homes, protect residents’ health and safety, provide taxpayer relief, protect the environment, promote a vigorous business community and preserve youth programs that benefit children’s physical well-being and social development. The majority of these issues were presented to RIAC at the beginning of the Environmental Impact Statement process and at multiple venues dating as far back as 2005.
As the mayor of Warwick, I believe that I have a moral obligation and fiduciary responsibility to advocate for and protect the interests of the city. I believe the residents of Rhode Island’s other 38 communities also would demand nothing less from their elected officials. It continues to be my belief that reasonable people can work together to find solutions for the common good of Warwick’s residents and businesses and the state. What I will not do, however, is forfeit the fundamental rights of Warwick’s citizens in exchange for empty promises. •
Scott Avedisian is the mayor of Warwick.
