The pace of closing Friedman Memorial Airport and replacing it with a new, larger facility picked up speed on several fronts this week as studies began into how the abandoned Friedman airfield might be developed in the future, plus what the new airport's layout might be.
Cincinnati-based consulting firm Landrum & Brown has a $2 million-plus contract to conduct an environmental impact statement study for a new airport, including developing what it calls "conceptualizations" of the new property.
Simultaneously, the city of Hailey announced Tuesday it is beginning an 18-month study along with public hearings on how to zone and develop the Friedman Trust land when the airport is closed. Less than 100 acres of the airport will remain after the remaining 100-plus acres purchased with Federal Aviation Administration and FMAA funds are sold to help pay for the new airport.
Friedman Trust land was donated to the city for airport purposes by the pioneer Friedman family.
Landrum & Brown President Mark Perryman told the Mountain Express that results of layout studies probably would be available within six months.
He said layouts would be made for all three of the designated candidate sites for the new airport. Those include alignment of an 8,500-foot runway, position of terminal, support facilities, location of general aviation activities, rental car storage and roads. Only one of the three sites—No. 10-A in south Blaine County near the Lincoln County line and east of state Highway 75—would require a crosswind runway of about 6,500 feet. The other sites are No. 4 in the Bellevue Triangle and No. 12 in far west Blaine County on the north side of U.S. Highway 20.
Perryman said the tentative layout concepts would help determine how many acres would be needed for the airport. Site 10-A land is now owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Hopes have been raised that the land might even be donated at no cost via congressional action.
Meanwhile, Friedman Manager Rick Baird said one element in planning the new airport's layout is to ensure that the whole facility is a "green" project with the latest environmentally sensitive designs and systems.
As for the size of land needed, Baird said, "I don't know of a single airport manager who doesn't want more property." He said the new airport should be located on a tract large enough "to meet our needs for the next 50 years."
Since Friedman Memorial lies inside the city of Hailey, the city would be responsible for planning and zoning the airport land. Since the Friedman family specified the donated land should be used for an airfield, the question of who would develop the land and how would need to be decided.
A number of off-handed ideas for use have been suggested—light industry, a college campus, residences, a park and future government offices, among others.
The Landrum & Brown studies of the old and new tracts will not make specific recommendations on land usage, Perryman said, but would provide general ideas.
Another group weighing in on the old airport's eventual usage is Sustain Blaine, a new group organized to create a long-range economic development plan for the Wood River Valley.
Rick Baird
