Obstruction Clearance Project Proceeds Amidst Public Concern
By BRIANNA FERGUSONSUNY Institute for Local NewsONEONTA
The City of Oneonta Airport Commission welcomed three new commissioners and approved two budgetary motions at its monthly meeting on Thursday, October 9. The newly-appointed commissioners are Richard Brockway, Isaiah Gibbs and Michael Lynch. The motions, which are now being recommended to the Common Council for its approval, involve the construction of a partial parallel taxiway and the design of a new entry road to the Albert S. Nader Regional Airport.
Many of the more than a dozen area residents in attendance were there for another reason, however: to hear updates on, and to voice concerns about, the airport’s runway obstruction clearance project. The project has been an ongoing topic of distress within the community since April, when the Common Council approved a resolution to accept a Federal Aviation Administration grant. A condition of that federal funding is to clear approximately 150 acres of trees that sit on privately-owned land surrounding the airport. The topic appeared on the commission’s October meeting agenda as “on-premises clearance” and “off-premises clearance.”
Airport Commission Chair Martijn Kamerbeek and Vice Chair Justin Osterhoudt repeatedly reassured the landowners of the approximately one-dozen properties affected by the “off-premises clearance” that the city and its consultants have not yet made any decisions about forest clearance.
“There’s no ill intent. There’s no secret agenda,” Kamerbeek declared.
