The public finally will get not one, not two but three chances at looking over a list of potential sites that've tentatively made the grade in a search for a new airport location overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration and conducted by international consultant Landrum & Brown.
First disclosure of the list will be at the regular public monthly meeting of the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, August 5, in the conference room of the old Blaine County Courthouse.
Then twice the next day on Wednesday, August 6 -- between 10 a.m. and Noon, and 6 to 8 p.m. -- FAA and Landrum & Brown officials will discuss the candidate sites in public meetings at the Community Campus in Hailey.
Airport manager Rick Baird says he has no advance indication of sites on the list.
Although there has been no advance details about the list, indications over the past several months are that it probably includes more locales than the pared down list of preferred sites approved by a citizens site selection committee. The No. 1 choice of the airport authority is a flatland site in southern Blaine County east of state Highway 75 below Timmerman Hills.
The Environmental Impact Statement study under which the site search is being conducted allows for inclusion of other potential sites to be examined. The EIS, which could take several years to complete, covers a multitude of social, economic and technical interests leading up to final recommendations.
Generally, the site must be clear of terrain that would interfere with safe landing and takeoffs, large enough for a facility covering 600 to 1,200 acres and accommodating at least one 8,500-foot runway and taxiways, minimal impact on wildlife and the environment, convenient to population areas of the Wood River Valley and economically viable for airlines. Weather patterns, such as fog and wind, are taken into account, although the new airport will have a state-of-the-art all-weather landing system.
