Defying recommendations of its citizens site selection committee, the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority voted Wednesday night to pick the least-preferred of three sites as the location for a possible new, larger airport.
So-called Site No. 10, located generally in the southernmost part of Blaine County a few miles east of state Highway 75, will be recommended to the Federal Aviation Administration for intensive environmental and economic studies.
However, the locale faces probable objections from the Shoshone-Bannock tribe as well as questions from the Bureau of Land Management and environmentalists.
The 4-1 vote for the site came at the end of a 95-minute special public meeting of the FMAA during which no public comment was allowed. The five-member board discussed site pros and cons among themselves in front of a packed conference room of some 75 people.
A site decision was scheduled after an 18-month study by a 25-member citizens group representing interests in Blaine, Camas and Lincoln counties. The group had recommended, in order of preference, site No. 9 in Lincoln County just north of Shoshone; site No. 13 east of Fairfield in Camas County, and site No. 10 in Blaine County south of Timmerman Hills.
The Airport Authority is searching for a site for a new airport because the FAA has said Friedman does not meet its standards and must be moved or expanded. The authority has said it will not expand Friedman.
Led by arguments of member Len Harlig, the board rejected sites 9 and 13 a little more than 30 minutes into their meeting, then turned its attention to pluses and minuses of site No. 10.
What seemed to tilt the board toward No. 10 were three elements cited by Harlig: closeness of No. 10 to the Sun Valley Resort area (an estimated 31 miles, versus 37 miles for No. 9 and 43 miles for No. 13); continued local control of a major airport rather than sharing authority with another county; and acquisition of mostly public lands rather than displacing private property owners in Nos. 9 and 13.
The demise of No. 13 as a site began when FMAA member Tom Bowman, also a Blaine County commissioner, said Camas County commissioners had not indicated their support for an airport, plus a Camas County airport might create undue competition at Soldier Mountain ski resort for Sun Valley's Bald Mountain.
Then authority Vice Chair Susan McBryant, mayor of the city of Hailey, added the board "should respect" swelling objections from Camas County residents to an airport. A large California law firm, one of whose members reportedly vacations in the Fairfield area, has recently been bombarding the FMAA with legal challenges to the site process.
Harlig: "We've said we don't want to transfer our problems to someone else. We'd be asking people (in Camas County) to take on the burden (of a new airport) that we are unwilling to take on in our community."
But member Dr. Ron Fairfax, a pilot and aircraft owner, held firm, suggesting Camas County could possibly become a mini resort that "would add to the economic viability" of the area.
On the vote to remove No. 13 from consideration, only Fairfax voted nay. A Camas delegation applauded when No. 13 was eliminated from consideration.
Continuing, Harlig whittled away at No. 9, arguing, for example, that Lincoln County-regulated access on Burmah Road from Highway 75 would impose speed limits that could slow ground traffic from an airport. He also argued he would feel "a twinge in asking Lincoln County to give up that kind of (agricultural) land for (airport) pavement when we don't want that to happen in our country."
Finally, he told fellow board members, "Given the support of the business community in Blaine County for a site in Blaine, if I had to choose between (sites) 9 and 10, it would be 10 for long-term interest."
Authority Chair Martha Burke, a Hailey City Council member: "In my mind if you put an airport (site No. 9) on the outskirts of Shoshone, we have not guaranteed that community will benefit directly. Site 9 is perhaps not the way to."
Bowman: "Put my money on Site 10. My colleagues on the (Blaine) County Commission would agree."
But Fairfax remained unconvinced. He pointed out that consultants had described Site 10 as the most difficult for airport construction-it's rocky, requires fill to be imported from other sites, has a major gas pipeline that would need to be moved-and in his judgment as a pilot "is dangerous" because of winds and appearance from the air as a remote "black hole."
Consultant Chuck Sundby, of Toothman-Orton, added that building an airport on Site 10 would be the most expensive of the sites.
McBryant: "(Site 10) is a truly beautiful area. Lots of hoops we need to go through (for approval), but we can surmount those."
Then, reading a prepared "finding of facts" of nearly 900 words, Harlig detailed the history of why a new airport is needed, the site selection process and reasons why Site 10 would be the best.
FMAA Chair Burke finally suggested that because of anticipated growth in south Blaine County and in Lincoln and Camas counties, "all of a sudden we've devised in this process a site (No. 10) for the benefit of five major communities in our area that may serve this community and two counties better than we can possibly imagine."
With Fairfax dissenting, the board voted 4-1 to recommend Site 10 to the FAA. Even if no obstacles were encountered to No. 10 being approved, construction of an airport there would be 10 years off.
