McKinney OKs airport expansion p

McKinney OKs airport expansion plan

Council rejects Fairview's offer for alternative runway

10:30 PM CST on Tuesday, November 2, 2004

By ROY APPLETON and PAUL MEYER / The Dallas Morning News

McKINNEY – The McKinney City Council approved a $107 million expansion plan Tuesday night for Collin County Regional Airport, rejecting at least for now neighboring Fairview's offer to help pay for an alternative.

In a 6-1 vote, the council approved a revised layout for the city-owned airport that includes a new terminal, more businesses and hangars, and an additional runway requiring a realignment of FM546. Council member Gilda Garza cast the lone vote against the layout.

"This year, the airport will generate about $1.3 million net to the city, the school district, the county and the community college," council member Pete Huff said. "That number will go up substantially in the next five years and even more in the next 10 years."

The proposed layout and an accompanying update of the airport's master plan now go to state and federal aviation officials for review. If approved, the documents would underpin requests for airport funding.

Anticipating growth, the latest plan projects a doubling of airport takeoffs and landings and a tripling of its hangared jet aircraft by 2022. And keeping alive a longstanding dispute with Fairview and other airport neighbors, the plan includes construction of an 8,000-foot runway.

The addition would parallel and replace the 7,001-foot runway, which would be used only in emergencies or during work on the new strip, according to the plan. Opponents say the move is designed to double the airport's capacity. Officials say they don't intend to operate dual runways but would respond to market demands.

Supporters say Collin County Regional is a magnet for industrial development and tax-base growth. A longer runway, they say, is needed to enable the airport to handle the largest fully loaded business jets.

Instead of extending the existing runway, they say a new one is needed to meet federal airport design standards. The largest aircraft now using the airport call for a 400-foot separation between runway and taxiway. The current separation is 300 feet.

Opponents dispute the need for a new runway, which consultants project would cost $14.1 million and airport director Ken Wiegand said could run, with contingencies, closer to $22 million. McKinney probably would pay 10 percent.

If a new landing strip is to be built, Fairview officials want it angled away from the existing runway, routing southbound air traffic east of their town.

Mayor Sim Israeloff pressed the point again this week, offering in a letter to the McKinney council that "Fairview would help pay the added cost" of an angled runway.

The Town Council has agreed to contribute land or money, but the amount of support hasn't been determined because the cost of such a project is unknown, he said.

"This is so important to our city, we're willing to put our money where our mouth is," the mayor said Tuesday.

Airport consultants estimate an angled runway would require 185 more acres than the proposed parallel strip and cost an additional $15.6 million.

While the alternative would reduce air traffic over Fairview, airport planners and two review committees rejected it, Mr. Wiegand said Tuesday, largely because of the added cost.

Plus, the airport director said, Fairview came too late with an offer and failed to work with the city during the last 18 months of updating the airport plan.

"Here we are at the 12th hour," he said. "We had an opportunity to work this out and they blew it."

A Fairview representative suggested an angled runway this year during his work on the airport layout and plan. Airport expansion is central to a 4-year-old lawsuit between McKinney and Fairview over boundaries and annexations. And during a September mediation session, Fairview offered unspecified aid for an angled runway, which McKinney turned down.

"They rejected the proposition out of hand," said Mr. Israeloff, declining to specify how much Fairview is willing to pay. "Everything's on the table," he said, including 200 acres Fairview owns just south of the airport.

Mr. Israeloff sought to address the McKinney council Tuesday night before the vote, but the council denied his request. He was allowed to speak during the public comment period after the vote.

"As we proceed down this road, it will certainly be remembered," Mr. Israeloff said of the council's decision.

Mr. Wiegand said McKinney wasn't trying to punish Fairview for refusing to settle the annexation lawsuit or go along with its airport plans. Even with council approval Tuesday night, the plans aren't settled.

The master plan and airport layout are conceptual development guides required for federal funding, which would cover 90 percent of the estimated $107 million worth of projects.

The blueprints can be amended, and the location and possible angling of a new runway will be considered during its environmental review and cost-benefit analysis, Mr. Wiegand said.

Funding for those reviews has been requested, and McKinney hopes to open the new runway by 2011, he said.

E-mail rappleton@dallasnews.com

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