Tweed Orders Safety Area Work to Begin?
Posted on: Wednesday, 14 May 2008, 21:00 CDT
By Mark Zaretsky
By Mark Zaretsky Register Staff
NEW HAVEN -- Tweed New Haven Regional Airport gave the contractor the go-ahead Tuesday to begin work on the airport's federally mandated runway safety area project.
But work on the south area will take place only on the New Haven side until a May 5 hearing in federal court on a temporary restraining order Tweed seeks to prevent East Haven from interfering.
U.S. District Court Judge Janet C. Hall set the hearing date Tuesday afternoon in a telephone conference with representatives of both sides, said East Haven Mayor April Capone Almon.
Tweed believes federal law and last year's state Department of Environmental Protection approval supercedes East Haven's requirement that the project go before the town's Inland Wetlands Commission.
But while Tweed is hauling East Haven into court, it is using a different tool to try to smooth the road with airport neighbors: information.
"We're going to be reaching out to our neighbors" both personally and with information that will be updated on the airport's Web site, www.flytweed.com, said Timothy Larson, executive director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority.
He urged anyone with questions to call him at 466-8833, ext. 110, or to consult the airport's Web site.
"As I've walked around, most of the folks" who were upset "have been concerned about the lack of good information," Larson said at a press conference Tuesday at what soon will be a construction site at the end of Uriah Street in New Haven.
It's off the south end of the main runway, where the 1,000-foot, reinforced turf south runway safety area will be built.
Work on the north runway safety area, which would require relocation of Dodge Avenue -- something East Haven refused to grant - - is on hold and in court.
Tweed filed suit in federal court Monday, seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction "against the enforcement of any local regulations with regard to the runway safety area project," the airport's lawyer, Hugh Manke, has said.
East Haven previously issued a cease and desist order in early February after neighbors on Roses Mill Road complained about work a contractor was doing to set up a staging area in advance of the formal beginning of the project.
East Haven later agreed to withdraw that order, and the airport and town observed a 60-day "time-out" to try to resolve their differences.
That period ended April 15.
East Haven officials have consistently opposed the project, which many people in the town view as a precursor to eventual runway extension. Larson said Tuesday that as part of the decision to move forward, the future phase that would include paving the runway safety areas "is off the table." Airport officials have agreed to call for a legislative package limiting the airport's growth and addressing residents' concerns, he said.
According to East Haven Town Attorney Patricia Cofrancesco, "Manke asked us (during the phone conference) if we would agree not to issue any further cease and desist orders until May 5 and the town refused."
While Tweed issued the notice to proceed to Guerrera Construction Tuesday, little work is likely to take place this week, Larson said.
City and airport officials have said privately in the past that one concern they have is uncertainty about future funding for the project if it doesn't begin soon. Another concern has been that if it didn't begin soon, Guerrera might seek additional money beyond what it bid.
The three-year, $18.5 million plan, for which Tweed has received a $10.05 million federal grant, calls for Tweed to fill about 13 acres of wetlands to create the federally mandated, unpaved 1,000- foot reinforced turf safety areas.
It involves the relocation of a section of Dodge Avenue in East Haven to create the north runway safety area.
It also calls for Tweed to restore 56 acres of wetlands, create 4 acres of new wetlands and replace floodgates in order to build the runway safety areas.
(c) 2008 New Haven Register. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: New Haven Register
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds