BC 1977 06 09 - Laserfiche WebLink

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35 25 miles from north to south. Yet the proposed site selected by the airport committee lies~within 3 miles of the Mecklenburg County Line. (2) The second criteria considered by the Authority was a location that would require little site preparation. We submit that anyone who considers $1,216,743.00 as "little" for site preparation was schooled in a different field of economics than that to which we were exposed. (3) Third, the Authority says, the noise level factor certainly had to be considered. If there has been an environmental impact study made as required by the Airport Development Acceleration Act of 1973, which would speak, among other things, to the noise level factor, such a study remains to be seen. There are 2 well established churches in the flight path of the proposed site, one of which existed for more than 150 years before Orville and Wilbur Wright ever dreamed of a flying machine. And there also happens to be a well established elementary school in the flight path of the proposed air field. (4) The fourth criterion considered by the Authority is that the popula- tion around the facilit~y had to be at a minimum. We submit that the site selected is in the center of the most desirable section of Cabarrus County for potential residential growth and development. This entire area is ideal as "bedroom space" for the City of Charlotte and is rapidly being developed for such purposes. There are at least 10 residential developments on the Planning Board and/or under construction within a 3-mile perimeter of the proposed site at the present time. Each of the developers of the proposed site is violently opposed to the proposal, and one has reported that he lost a sale for a home building site valued at more than $12,000 before noon on Monday, after the proposal was released by the newspapers this past Sunday morning. (5) The Authority states as its fifth criterion that the land must be situated so that ~roper runway headings could be designed. We submit that proper runways can be designed upon any 130-acre tract of land of the same dimension, regardless of the section of the county in which it may be located. (6) The sixth criterion noted by the Authority is the cost of the facility which it says is a major concern. We can readily understand why this should be a criterion. It does not appear, however, that any effort was made by the Authority to minimize the cost factor. (7) The seventh and last criterion called for easy access from all areas of the community which is a must. We submit to you that no part of Cabarrus County is isolated, and that if a suitable site for an airport is located, the matter of providing access thereto would be an insignificant factor if the airport is intended to serve the citizens of Cabarrus County, but if the primary concern is to serve the residents of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, who have voted down one bond issue after another to improve their facilities, as the concerned citizens believe, then certainly a location close to 1-85 and the Mecklenburg County line would be most suitable. On page 4 of the report, the Authority discusses the proposed location in more depth. It notes that the land under option is located approximately 7 % mi~es from Concord and Kannapolis and is only about 11 miles from the Metropolitan area of Charlotte. We would like to know just why the Cabarrus County Airport Authority is the least bit concerned as to what distance this airport may be located from the metropolitan area of Charlotte. The concerned citizens resent the fact that any group of citizens in Concord or Cabarrus County would propose to subject the people of Cabarrus County to a tax for the purpose of building and maintaining a facility primarily for the use and benefit of residents of Mecklenburg County. The Authority notes that the land which they have chosen for consideration is in a sparsely populated area of Cabarrus County. The very price for which the Authority has an option to purchase the land belies the statement that this is a sparsely populated area. The fact that an owner of 1,200 acres of land has not seen fit to develop or sell any part of his land for development until it is worth $2,500 or more per acre does not mean that the surrounding property is sparsely populated. On the contrary, it indicates that this is a populated area in which there is a great demand for progress and potential growth. In the section of the report related to cost and funding, commencing on page 8, the Authority correctly points out that there are two important considerations in regard to Federal funding. First, that the Airport Development Act specifies that if a municipal airport qualifies as a reliever airport for a larger regional facility, then the project will receive priority Federal funding as opposed to an airport being developed in an isolated part of the country. The Authority goes on to state, "We have already received a strong indication from the FAA that this location will qualify as a reliever airport". A RELIEVER AIRPORT FOR WHAT? There can be only one answer and that is Douglas Municipal Airport. The full significance of the Authority's statement is: That the Federal Government will dump money into this airport in order to relieve the congestion at Douglas Municipal Airport in Mecklenburg County. As previously indicated, people in Mecklenburg County have turned down bond issues for increasing the size of Douglas Municipal Airport and have