Airport Expansion Plans Prompt Neighborly Concern, Part Two

By BILL BELLEN
ONEONTA

Change can be frightening for anyone. When this change threatens to upend the life you have known for decades, it can be mortifying.

These are the concerns raised by the Otsego County Wilderness and Wildlife Coalition, a group of neighbors of the Albert S. Nader Regional Airport who feel the recent refurbishment and expansion efforts of the facility are encroaching on the places they call home.

Randy and Karen Miritello have lived on Kelly Corners Road—over a mile away from the airport—for 25 years. The pair have a vast property of wilderness and trails, with an outdoor stage that has seen many performances from notable local faces over the years. This history is what they feel is at stake with the airport’s current plans.

“We love our land,” Karen said. “We love to have the trees that we bought it with, that have grown in the 25 years, that we’ve occupied this space and raised a family, and been part of the community.
“It means a lot to us to be stewards of this land,” she continued. “So the idea that the habitat that this land has afforded us to enjoy and share with the wildlife, with the natural resources that are here; the idea that an outside entity would threaten that and come in here with chainsaws and level it all to the ground. It’s just a sickening thought.”

Not too far down the road, Jim and Shannon Forbes share much of the Miritellos’ concerns. Having built their house 28 years ago and raised their children on the property, the Forbeses expressed their deeply personal connection to the land around them. Beyond the possible threats to protected wetlands and streams, Jim critiqued the communication between the Airport Commission and his family.

“Last fall, we were invited over to the airport for some hot dogs and potato salad, where they told all the neighbors, ‘Hey, we’re gonna look into pursuing a grant. And it’s going to come with a lot of different things…There was a meeting that was pretty poorly run in the spring. The information really wasn’t clear, but at that time, Shannon and I said, ‘We’ll be willing to work with Passero Associates, the airport’s consultant, in a manner that we get information. What do you need?’…Then I went to a meeting—just myself with Martijn Kamerbeek, one of the airport commissioners, Matt Nissen, the engineer for Passero Associates, and Matt Kent, the manager of the airport under Hawkeye Aviation…At that point, it was stated, ‘No, the grant we’re going for, everything is getting cut to the ground.’ Parcel two, which is this parcel that [we live on], is 25 acres. He said that one is just going to be absolutely clear-cut. No new buildings, no structures any higher than what’s there now…There was an indication that, if you don’t work with us, this is going to keep going on and become an eminent domain situation.”

The use of eminent domain, defined as “the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use,” was noted to have been a particularly threatening prospect from the commission by both neighbors. Randy shared that several neighbors of the airport reported that Kent or other commission representatives came to their doors saying that easements were necessary to move the project along, and that they needed to “get on board” before it came to using eminent domain. This posturing has caused the Miritellos and their neighbors to put up posted private property signs, something they noted they had never before felt the need to do.

The Miritellos paralleled what they see as unprofessional behavior to previous actions of the commission.

“They clear-cut the property…Down at the four corners, take B. George [Road] out to behind the airport, you would see the airport would be on your left…That hill on the right, they completely clear-cut with no stormwater mitigation. They went up there in…late winter, early spring, and just destroyed it. Left just a tangled mess, and all the runoff spoiled the pond of the two neighbors…which is a DEC registered trout stream that flows into the Oneonta reservoir, silt[ing] it all up, killing all the fish, and so that’s why they were fined. That was in 2012,” Randy shared.

According to the Miritellos, this clearing and subsequent fine cost the City of Oneonta $64,000.00. Both the Miritellos and Forbeses pointed out how they believed the city was uninformed about what they were approving when signing off on the Airport Commission’s plans last year.

“A lot of it comes down to getting the factual information out to the rest of the world, including the city council, who we figured just was not [informed],” Randy stated. “I talked to one city council guy that I know. [I] went to him and said, ‘What do you know about this?’ He had no idea of the whole eminent domain clear-cut aspect of this. And so that’s when I realized, none of them do. The mayor didn’t know.”

“Three of the council members stated, if we had this information when we voted on this proposal—if we had the full information—we would have voted differently,” Jim continued.

Both families share the belief that the owner of the FBO also owning a timber company creates a major conflict of interest when it comes to clearing land for the airport. Randy and Jim said that Leatherstocking Timber and Stone and Leatherstocking Hand-Split Billets Co.—companies owned and managed by Kent—are listed as possible contractors with the city for the clearing, meaning that Kent could see direct profits from both ends of the deal. Randy continued, noting that Kent also has the contract to sell fuel at the airport, and saying that the ratio of profits to Kent versus the city is “ridiculous.”

Neighbors of the municipal airport have attended both the most recent Oneonta Common Council and Otsego County Board of Representatives meetings to share their many concerns with elected officials. A number of families in the area are said to have taken action legally, either to prevent surveyors from entering their property, or to protect their interests of preserving the forests around their homes. The Miritellos and Forbeses both have called on officials to inquire and investigate this situation in its entirety in an effort to make informed decisions moving forward.

“Since he’s taken the lead role as manager, [Kent] has just shown up on people’s property…unannounced,” Jim recounted. “Pretty much said, ‘This is happening, you have no choice,’ and scaring people. If I were in a position of authority in the city government, I would question how that individual got to the role of airport manager under Hawkeye Aviation. Anybody could start an LLC as an individual and then apply for what sounds like a job that they had posted…Was he experienced? Was he interviewed? What [were] his past experiences…running or owning an FBO?”

Editor’s note: Neither Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek nor Airport Commission officials responded to inquiries about neighbors’ concerns by press time.