FAA: Pick an airport plan
FAA: Pick an airport plan
State will be asked to select its preferred option for south suburban site
February 13, 2007| BY
CARMEN McCOLLUM cmccollum@nwitimes.com 219.662.5337 The Federal Aviation Administration wants one recommended plan for a proposed south suburban airport in unincorporated Will County, and it will ask the state to choose between the two it submitted last week. Typically, the FAA receives just a preferred plan for review, administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said. "We don't consider the master planning process complete until (the state) submits their recommended layout plan," he said. "From our point of view, we feel the state as the sponsor of the airport needs to make their recommendation on what they want to do." Susan Shea, Illinois Department of Transportation director of aeronautics, delivered the two plans Friday to the FAA in Des Plaines. IDOT submitted a 5,225 acre plan. The Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission submitted a 7,885 acre plan. The state was hoping the FAA would review both plans and determine which one is best, IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover said. "ALNAC had asked to submit their plan along with ours," he said. But when Shea delivered the plans, she was told of the FAA's concerns, Molinaro said. "We had a discussion with that (submitting two plans) was a problem," he said. "Having to consider two plans would mean twice as many people, twice as much time and twice as much money. Once the master planning process is considered complete, the FAA will make preparations to conduct an environmental impact analysis, which would consider, among other issues, how an airport would affect air quality, plant and wildlife, local residents' quality of life, taxes, archeology and transportation effects, Molinaro said. The scope and cost of the environmental review is one reason the FAA wants to know where to place its focus, Molinaro said. "Two environmental studies would not be a real good use of federal dollars," he said. "We don't want to begin an EIS analysis until they identify their recommended plan so we can focus on what they want to do." The FAA will put together an official response to IDOT either this week or early next week, Molinaro said. IDOT has not heard from the FAA regarding the issue, Vanover said. "We would like to officially hear from the FAA on their thoughts on the plans we submitted," he said Illinois politicians have urged Gov. Rod Blagojevich to endorse both plans. U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on Tuesday submitted a letter to the governor asking him to endorse ALNAC's plan as "preferred." Will County Executive Larry Walsh intends to pass his preference on to the governor via a letter and urge him to designate the IDOT plan as the preferred plan and ask the governor to drop the ALNAC plan from consideration. Last month, Walsh endorsed the state's plan and said many of the issues important to Will County were implemented in that plan. — Times Illinois Editor Chris Keller contributed to this report. |
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