The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is studying the possible swap or sale of a tract of largely barren property in southern Blaine County to be the site of a new airport.
The 2,480-acre tract is twice the ideal size of 1,200 acres discussed by planners for the past 20 years or more for a replacement to Friedman Memorial Airport.
Located east of state Highway 75 just north of the Blaine-Lincoln county line and south of Timmerman Hill, the area is called site 10-A, one of three sites singled out for evaluation in a Federal Aviation Administration environmental impact statement study also now underway.
The BLM evaluation began March 25. No date was set for a decision on whether the land would be sold or swapped for state land.
The public is invited to comment on the BLM study and disposal of the land by writing Ms. Cayla Morgan, Federal Aviation Administration, Seattle Airports District Office, 1601 Lind Ave. S.W., Suite 250, Renton, WA 98057-3356. Deadline for comment is May 11.
In a joint statement, Friedman Memorial Airport Authority Chairwoman Martha Burke and Vice Chairman Tom Bowman stated, "It is essential that the evaluation of a potential land exchange or sale move in tandem with the FAA environmental impact statement (EIS) process. Upon the completion of the EIS, we want to be able to act on federal approvals and not face a lengthy delay while a sale or exchange is reviewed by the BLM."
The BLM study, officials made clear, does not constitute endorsement of site 10-A. The FAA will make that recommendation when the EIS is completed a year or more from now on site 10-A and two other locales, one in the Bellevue Triangle, south of Bellevue and west of state Highway 75, and the other in western Blaine County north of U.S. Highway 20.
No specific offer has been made by the state of Idaho to swap land for the site 10-A acreage. But in a meeting with Gov. Butch Otter, Bowman was encouraged to pursue the arrangement with the state Department of Lands. One area mentioned informally for a swap would be north of Twin Falls.
A new group, Friedman Airport Users Alliance, has been formed to oppose closing Friedman. A spokesman for the group is based in Anchorage, Alaska.
Airport panel takes shape
A draft blueprint of how a new airport would be governed will be unveiled and discussed next week by the Blue Ribbon Commission studying ideas for managing Friedman Memorial Airport's replacement facility.
The group will meet Wednesday, April 8, at 3 p.m. in the Blaine County Commission chambers in the Old County Courthouse. This will be the fourth and perhaps final meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission, which is an informal panel made up of representatives from Blaine County and the valley's four cities.
Public and panel suggestions made at the meetings have been distilled and consolidated by commission Chairman and County Commissioner Tom Bowman into a proposal for a new airport authority.
The proposed new authority would have five members (as does the current airport board), all of whom must be Blaine County residents.
Members would include:
●One from the Blaine County Commission.
●One representing the array of aviation interests in the county and picked from two nominees.
One each from the county's three election districts nominated by valley cities and county commissioners from those districts.
Blaine County would play a dominant role in the selection process because the proposed new airport would probably be located in the unincorporated area and the County Commission would be the "sponsor" of a new facility as required by the Federal Aviation Administration. Friedman Memorial is now jointly "owned" and operated by the city of Hailey and Blaine County.
