Two airport site meetings scheduled
By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer
Two public meetings involved with deciding whether and where to locate a new Wood River Valley airport have been scheduled for late October and early November.
The Friedman Memorial Airport site selection committee will meet at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 26 in the Old Blaine County Courthouse second floor conference room to continue its study of potential new airport sites.
And on Wednesday, Nov. 3, the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority and staff will hold an open house at 5:30 p.m. in the courthouse conference room with informational displays on possible airport sites as well as data involved in the studies. Airport staff and consultants will be on hand to answer questions.
Airport manager Rick Baird said the site selection committee?s meeting would focus on eliminating some of the 16 suggested sites, largely because of ?fatal flaws? in their locations. Flaws could involve terrain that restricts safe aircraft operations, environmental or climate considerations, accessibility by ground and convenience to the Wood River Valley.
Baird reported to the airport authority at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 5, that he was in Minneapolis last week at home offices of airport consultant Mead & Hunt, reviewing all the data collected for the possible sites.
He said that if the airport site selection committee makes any recommendations affecting data on display at the Nov. 3 open house, the informational displays would be amended accordingly.
The mandate of the 50-member citizens site selection group is to winnow down the number of proposed sites to three or four recommended finalists that then would be officially adopted and submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration. The group may also make recommendations on the future of the present airfield, which the FAA says is ill-suited to meet safety and operating standards in its present layout.
A new airport probably is 10 years off and will cost approximately $100 million.
