The Cincinnati-based international firm of Landrum & Brown has been selected by the Federal Aviation Administration from a group of four contenders to conduct the Environmental Impact Statement study leading up to selection of a site for a new facility to replace Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey.
The $1 million-plus study will include several potential sites considered candidates in the past. The Friedman Memorial Airport Authority's preferred locale, labeled Site No. 10, is in south Blaine County just east of state Highway 75.
In its presentation of qualifications for the project, Landrum & Brown submitted some 78 pages of background of its work throughout the world, the listing of firms it would use as part of a team of specialists, and the expertise it would bring to the Friedman project.
Two of the six firms Landrum & Brown would use for specialty work are located in Idaho—North Wind Inc., a national environmental and engineering firm headquartered in Idaho Falls, and Bionomics Environmental, of Boise.
At its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 3, the airport board will discuss the award and discuss four study requirements ordered by the FAA. The latter include feasibility of airport sites in Camas and Lincoln counties that adjoin Blaine County; the interests of four Native American tribes in the ultimate airport location; the Bureau of Land Management's interests in possible sites, and development of revised air traffic forecast data for the region.
In addition to the airport board's discussion of the scope of the EIS study and Landrum & Brown's contract, the public also is being encouraged to attend the April, May and June board meetings on the first Tuesday of each of those months. In addition, a community meeting will be held on April 23 (time and place to be announced).
A comprehensive and voluminous file of the EIS scope as well as Landrum & Brown's presentation can be found on the Internet at www.airporteis.com.
Also at Tuesday's meeting, the five-member airport board will consider amending its by-laws that would allow an absent member to participate in a regular meeting by telephone to constitute a quorum of four.
