Friday, January 26, 2001
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Friday, January 26, 2001 |
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Runway opposition taking off By DAVE
HAMRICK
If the city of Atlanta wants to build a bigger runway for Hartsfield International Airport, it's going to have to pave over some fierce opposition from South Fulton residents. Members of the Hartsfield Advisory Committee last weekend were pleasantly surprised at the standing-room-only turnout for a community meeting to discuss plans for the runway. More than 200 crammed into the auditorium at the South Fulton Service Center, and more than 50 had to stand. "We plan to rise up and be recognized," said Harry King Jr., chairman of the committee. Formed by the Fulton County Commission at the urging of former Commissioner Michael Hightower, the committee is working to gather and present input from local residents concerning the city of Atlanta's plans to expand a planned fifth runway at Hartsfield. The runway already has been approved by federal agencies at 6,000 feet to handle commuter traffic, but Atlanta officials want to extend it to 9,000 feet for larger passenger planes and cargo traffic. Input aplenty came Saturday as resident after resident told the committee they want the expansion stopped. King made it clear the committee is with them. "This committee is categorically opposed to expansion of this fifth runway," he said, adding a challenge to the residents to make their feelings known when the Federal Aviation Administration conducts a public hearing Jan. 30. "They're not going to let us stand in this room and stop anything," he said. "We have to give them the inputs." FAA's hearing, 4-8 p.m. at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, will address the recently released draft environmental impact study on the expansion, a required part of the federal approval process. Advisory Committee members Tom Gardener Rex Renfroe and Fulton County environmental director Dr. James Fasson gave the crowd a rundown on impacts they believe the expansion will have on the local community, impacts they said the environmental impact study has overlooked or understated. "They're going to need two million cubic yards of fill dirt," said Gardener, adding that the dirt will come from a quarry in Clayton County. "To get two million cubic yards to that site in a year's time, trucks will have to leave that quarry every 50 seconds," he said. But when he talked to airport director Ben Decostas, Gardener said Decostas claimed the operation would have minimal effect on local traffic. More traffic will come in the future, Gardener said, as passenger traffic grows from 80 million to 130 million a year by 2015. There will also be additional traffic in the air, he said, with four new flight patterns causing "further degradation of air quality." Construction will cause more soil erosion, and the presence of the runway will increase surface water runoff, he said. Renfroe addressed noise, telling the crowd he has been trying since 1992 to get airport officials to mitigate the current noise levels for local residents. The environmental impact statement doesn't even address the problem, he added. "There is not a lick of mitigation of noise proposed by the city of Atlanta or the FAA," he said. With a longer fifth runway, noise contours will shift farther south, he said. He also took issue with how those contours are measured. FAA will pay to insulate homes where noise levels are at 65 decibels, he said, "but only if the 65 decibel is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year." And the noise level is measured using computer models rather than by installing monitors on the ground, he added. The committee will push for better measurement methods and for purchase, not just insulation, of homes at 65 decibels, he said. And it will organize class action lawsuits to ensure that residents are paid the full replacement value for the homes, not just their market value, which has been reduced by the proximity of the airport. That brought Benny Crane, a member of the Committee for the Future of South Fulton, to his feet. "It sounds like we're saying if the money's right, we'll accept [expansion of the runway]," he said. "It sounds like we're pimps and prostitutes." King assured him the committee will vigorously oppose the expansion. And County Commissioner Bill Edwards, who was a member of the committee before being elected to the commission, said the group must also prepare for the worst and look out for those most severely affected. "We're looking out for the small percentage of people who have to move out no matter what we do," he said. Fulton environmental director Fasson briefed the crowd further on the project's impact. Seventy to eighty percent of those being relocated, he said, would be low-income and minority families. In addition to 1,155 homes being bought out and moved, 11 community facilities like day care centers and churches will be relocated, and 256 businesses will be affected. The blighted areas left behind will attract prostitution, drug-related activities and other negatives, he added. King urged the crowd to show up Jan. 30 and bring their friends. "A turnout like this would blow their minds away. I would love for them to not be able to get the people in and have to reschedule the meeting," he said. Concerned citizens also should phone the airport, the city of Atlanta, the FAA and their elected representatives to make their feelings known, he added. "I called [the airport] and they laughed at me," said one woman from the crowd. But large numbers of citizens can't be ignored, King said. He also urged them to send letters, e-mails and faxes to the FAA and others. The public comment period on the environmental study runs through the end of February. Copies of the study are available in local libraries.
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