Following his letter last week quizzing Columbia County economic development czar Kenneth Flood, Ancram Supervisor Art Bassin has now followed up with a call for his fellow Supervisors to table a long-debated but little-understood plan to use eminent domain to expand the airport. Bassin’s latest appears in full below.
In talking to many of you about the airport over the past few months, I get the impression most of us do not support the airport eminent domain plan, or the "plan" to spend $8 million to $13 million of public money on the airport.
I also get the impression from you that most of us, and most of our constituents, would like to see the effort to expand the safety zone stopped until we get the facts on what exactly the FAA will do if we do not expand the safety zone, and what impact, if any that will have on Richmor or the county in the future.
And even if the FAA tells us they will require us to shorten the runway if we do not expand the safety zone, we have seen no evidence that a shorter runway would have a negative economic impact on Richmor or the County worthy over spending $600,000 to $700,000 of public money in an eminent domain procedure to prevent.
So that we can make an informed decision about this eminent domain issue, I plan to introduce a resolution at the October 9th BOS meeting that will table any further action on the eminent domain process until we get answers to the questions I raised in yesterday's email.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments about this proposed resolution.
Thanks.
