Proposed Airport ProjectAbove is the picture of the proposed airport project. Following is a breakdown of the "meeting" on January 31, 2007 to explain this.
The Meeting
This wasn't really a meeting at all. When we arrived, there was a table in the lobby to sign in. They handed us a small packet and included in the packet was a copy of a map (shown above). After signing in, I went into a room that had easels set up. On the easels were pretty much the rest of what was in the packet. In addition they had four or five people to talk to anyone that wanted to talk and ask questions. There was no presentation other than the easels and talking to the people assigned to the room.
As the crowd became larger, it was difficult to hear people asking questions and even more difficult to hear the answers. This is what I gathered from the answers that I could hear.
1. The study was started in 2005.
2. They claim that businesses want the airport expanded to save them expenses because they now must get their goods delivered from Lansing, Jackson or Battle Creek's airports. With the airport in Charlotte, they could save on some of the transportation costs.
3. They chose 11 locations. They eliminated a few bringing it down to 8. They further reduced it down to five locations.
4. They said they had attended township meetings in recent weeks of the townships remaining on the list.
5. They will next present their proposal to the Charlotte city council on March 7, 2007.
6. The final decision will be in April of 2007.
7. There is one change to the map that they gave us. In Section H, it is in the shape of a J. They have eliminated the vertical section which is east of Matthews Road. So the proposal for H is actually from Marshall Rd, East to Matthews Road, North to Osborn Rd and west to Miller Hwy.
8. They had a matrix up on an easel, but it wasn't provided in the packet. I asked why they didn't include that in the packet and they said we could get it at their website or the Charlotte website. Their website is http://www.meadhunt.com/index.php/projects/charlotte_purpose/nc/
Note: I went to their site and could not find the matrix. I went to the Charlotte website and couldn't find any mention of the project. It may be there, but I didn't find it.
The people there to answer questions also said that this project would be decided by the Charlotte City Council. If the area selected is outside of Charlotte, the affected township can still cause it to be stopped.
My OPINION:
The people there to explain everything were from MeadHunt. They seemed to be the salespeople for this project. After hearing some of their answers to questions asked by me and others while I was there, I tried to put myself in the place of the Charlotte City Council.
Charlotte is the largest city in the area. Olivet is small. Bellevue is small, Potterville is small. Charlotte has an airport already. They could decide to use the existing airport but if I were on the council, I wouldn't want that. First of all, the airport would have to be expanded. They claim that it's not reasonable due to Island Hwy. That road would interfere, or have to be moved or eliminated.
To be on the Charlotte City Council, I'd have to live in Charlotte. I wouldn't want a larger airport there because the air traffic noise would be constantly over my house. So I'm going to want to use one of the other areas.
A benefit to the area is I-69 which runs through Charlotte. If you look at the areas around Charlotte, you'll see that much of it is farmland. However, I-69 runs close to that farm land along Marshall Rd towards Charlotte. The distance between Charlotte and Olivet seems to be greater than heading north along I-69.
Just from what I just mentioned in the previous four paragraphs, if I were on the city council, I'd chose any area away from Charlotte. I would also want it close to I-69 and the best position for that is either site I or site H.
Site L is further away from I69 and very close to Charlotte. Site F is further away from I-69, so I wouldn't even consider that one. Site A is where the airport is and they seem to have already ruled that one out, despite it being on the list. This leaves the two sites to the south.
Site I comes right up to I-69 and site H comes within a mile of I-69. There is already an exit at site I, which is at Five point/Cochran and Marshall Roads. However, if site H was chosen, there is an exit at Ainger Road, and it would be four miles to the Charlotte Exit at Cochran Rd. It would be very easy to put another exit at Stein Rd for an airport if they chose Site H.
Unfortunately, the only decision that matters at this point is the Charlotte City Council. Those of us that don't live in CHarlotte are stuck with their decision if we're the site chosen. I believe the site that they'll choose will be either site I or site H.
I live right in the middle of site H. Should either of those sites be chosen, I won't like it. If site I is chosen, I'll be left with the noise from the airport. If site H is chosen, I'm in the part that will be taken.
I have the packet that was handed out and am willing to e-mail it if anyone needs it. You can write me at BYoung7411@yahoo.com.
I welcome your comments.
Brett
