Airport battles result of poor planning

1/9/2005

Regarding Bedminster, medevac and airports in general: Where is the Fourth Estate, and what happened to due process?

I ask you to look at the conflict in Bedminster and Readington, not as he said-she said, but as a badly dysfunctional process that damages our economy and quality of life.

What concerns me most is that New Jersey has yet to learn how to provide basic planning and permitting for airports. Towns like Bedminster and Readington have yet to provide provisions for any type of airport improvement or growth, yet approve vast residential and commercial growth; thus it is they who are responsible for this recipe for unnecessary conflict.

Even today, two new homes are planned on Airport Road immediately adjacent to the airport. Isn't it entirely predictable that once built, these new residents would complain about aircraft noise? According to township goals, they should be horse stables, hayfields or perhaps an airpark; homes with a garage on the front for automobiles and a hangar in back for the family airplane.

These are quite common in other areas of the country and an excellent residential-airport-friendly buffer zone that reduces the animosity we see in Bedminster. These exist in New Jersey, at Alexandria Field and Sky Manor. It is ironic that Somerset Airport tried to build an airpark more than a decade ago, but apparently the township bankrupted the owner during the permitting process.

Airport opponents in Bedminster argue that airport use is inappropriate in a residential zone. But, it is the township that controls zoning, not the airport. Yet, no municipality would willingly dedicate 200 acres of commercial zone or invest in relocating an existing airport. The loss of tax ratables and jobs alone make this a non-starter. Nearly all New Jersey airports pre-date zoning formally established in 1947. Few towns have made any airport compatible land-use provisions since the 1947 bi-plane era.

In addition, Bedminster township officials have been provided continuous updates on state and federal airport planning documents. Simply including them in their master planning and permitting process would greatly reduce the current animosity and provide critical information to current and potential residents and adjacent towns.

But that's no excuse to vilify the airport owner or the town council. It is an opportunity to improve the planning process. It is worth noting that the state has failed to update the State Aviation System Plan for more than a decade. That leaves little wonder that airports, counties, municipalities and residents alike can't improve airport planning or address community uncertainty.

There is another solution. By zoning land adjacent to airports runways as mixed use, it would allow existing homeowners to maximize their investment, and allow airport friendly business to locate near these transportation assets. It would gradually reduce the conflict between airports and neighbors without the use of eminent domain, expensive legal conflicts, an dcostly or dangerous flight restrictions, yet reduce the residential population exposed to aviation noise.

Critics may cry that this will pave the way to airport expansion, but airports are critical to our economy, global competitiveness and quality of life. It is only compatible zoning in the hands of municipal leaders that can improve this situation for our children's future. And it offers a solution to all affected parties.

Other states have solved this dilemma, and the New Jersey economy suffers as a result, lagging in job creation and company retention. Merck recently built a vaccine plant, not in Whitehouse or Rahway, but in Durham, N.C. GM and Ford have both closed plants. These "high quality" jobs which afford us the high cost of living in New Jersey are now lost to us.

Again, I ask the newspapers as the Fourth Estate, and public citizens who may be unaffected, to look at the conflict in Bedminster and Readington not as he said-she said, but as a dysfunctional planning process filled with irresponsible government neglect that damages our economy and quality of life. Shame on our New Jersey leadership for failing our aviation transportation infrastructure and failing to help the affected residents.

If we want a different outcome for future generations, we need to step back and find a different approach. Repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

Sim Hitzel
Westfield