Deal Gets First Test Today
By Kevin Flowers, Erie Times-News, Pa.
Feb. 28–A newly proposed deal — one that aims to keep Erie International Airport’s $80.5 million runway extension from being held up by golf course issues — should get its first crucial sign-off today.
The Erie Municipal Airport Authority is expected to approve the deal at its noon meeting at the airport, authority Chairman Louis Porreco said.
The authority will consider a revised “memorandum of understanding” — a document outlining the specific responsibilities of Erie County government, the city of Erie and the Airport Authority as part of the runway deal.
Environmental concerns about transferring the Erie Golf Club from the city to Millcreek Township became a stumbling block in a four-way agreement that local government officials worked on in December to finance the runway project.
A simpler arrangement, worked out this week, drops the golf course from the deal, as well as Millcreek Township’s role in the arrangement.
“This will allow the project to move forward without any more impediments,” Porreco said. “With the golf course off the table, everything else is clearly identified, and our path forward is positive.”
Erie City Council President Curtis Jones said City Council will vote on the new deal at its March 5 meeting.
Erie County Council is expected to follow suit at its next meeting, scheduled for March 11, County Council Chairman Joseph Giles said.
As part of the new plan, the airport will pay the city $1.6 million to reduce the Erie Golf Club’s debt of almost $2.2 million.
Previously, the plan was for the airport to pick up the entire $2.2 million and have the course transferred to Millcreek.
The airport had hoped to cut at least $2 million in runway project costs by giving Millcreek a new golf course and in return avoid having to reconfigure three holes of the Millcreek Golf and Learning Center course that are in the path of the runway.
Airport officials said a $1.6 million payment would leave the city golf course with a $600,000 debt.
Under the new plan, the airport will go back to the original idea of paying to reconfigure the holes at the Millcreek golf course.
The rest of the plan is the same.
Porreco said the new deal might not be as expensive to the runway project’s bottom line as it first appears.
The FAA would reimburse some of the costs of reconfiguring three holes at the Millcreek Golf and Learning Center — money the airport would not receive had the golf course transfer eliminated the need to do the work on the Millcreek course.
“I think we can do this for a differential of only about $300,000 … more than if we would have done the golf course switch,” Porreco said.
The new deal also calls for Erie City Council to allow Erie County to appoint four new members to the existing five-member Airport Authority. The county will commit gambling revenue to pay $25.7 million toward the local share of the runway extension.
Porreco said the four new board members cannot be officially seated, with full voting privileges, until the state signs off on their appointments.
Porreco said airport officials are in the process of forwarding paperwork to the Pennsylvania Department of State informing them of the board change.
The latest stumbling block came after Millcreek Township insisted on an environmental assessment before it would accept the Erie Golf Club property, and the city balked at what it felt could be an open-ended commitment to fix unknown environmental problems.
Paul Spence of C&S Engineers, the airport’s consultant project manager, said airport officials are eager to move the project forward as quickly as possible to prevent inflation from pushing the price of the extension even higher.
Staff writers George Miller and Jim Carroll contributed to this report.
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