SAN MARTIN
– A dispute between San Martin residents and the county over
growth at the South County Airport may shift – at least temporarily
– from provisions of a long-term planning effort to the county’s
near-term plans to build new hangars there.
SAN MARTIN – A dispute between San Martin residents and the county over growth at the South County Airport may shift – at least temporarily – from provisions of a long-term planning effort to the county’s near-term plans to build new hangars there.
Leaders of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance say they want the county to perform a full environmental analysis before it constructs 100 hangars at South County Airport this year – and they may even be willing to pursue a court fight to back up their request.
“What we want is an adequate EIR (Environmental Impact Report) that analyzes all the significant environmental impacts the project will have,” said Richard Vantrood, a land-use attorney and alliance member who is working on a pro-bono basis for the group.
However, so far county planners and lawyers have indicated an EIR is unnecessary, said District 1 County Supervisor Don Gage.
“An environmental assessment was performed when the airport was built, and it hasn’t changed,” he said. “We still own the same amount of land …
“If anything changes, we’ll do it. We’re not trying to circumvent any process, but we’re not going to spend $100,000 on something that’s not necessary.”
Alliance members are worried that the county won’t perform a comprehensive review of all of the impacts that could come with the hangars and the aircraft that will occupy them, ranging from noise and pollution to wastewater quality.
So far, airport officials plan to perform a so-called “negative declaration” of the hangar expansion, whose concept and funding were approved by supervisors last summer. That’s a level of environmental review that suggests there will be no significant impacts from the project.
But many residents feel that there will be significant quality-of-life impacts such as noise, pollution and aesthetic impacts from the additional aircraft that will occupy the hangars, as well as on-the-ground concerns.
Alliance members ultimately want the hangars analyzed as part of an environmental study on overall 20-year expansion plans at the airport, which are currently being discussed through an update of the airport’s master plan. But they note that officials have said design plans for the hangars could be slated for approval as early as next month.
Approving the hangars before the new master plan is done is like putting the proverbial cart before the horse, they say.
“They’re operating under a stale document,” Vantrood said, referring to the airport’s previous master plan, which dates from 1982. “Operating under that document is inappropriate because the assumptions aren’t the same anymore.”
But Gage said expansion plans that would accommodate the hangars have been identified for some time. Land already developed as outdoor aircraft parking spaces and currently occupied by storage trailers will be occupied by the new hangars, he said.
“(The hangar decision) was made before the new master plan was done because it was something that was needed, and it was there all the time,” he said. “The 1982 plan called for new hangars there, it just didn’t say when – hangars or tie-downs, but we chose to go with the hangars because that’s where the demand is.”
Alliance leaders said they’re also concerned that the hangars could allow for more jet or turboprop aircraft before a decision is made whether the airport should accommodate them.
County officials have said San Martin is the only airport that could be geared toward the community and its turboprops and corporate jets, but said formal decisions on such matters will come in coming months. Turboprops and small jets occasionally use the airport now, but operate with fuel and weight restrictions.
Draft design plans group members have reviewed so far include hangars large enough for such aircraft, said alliance president Sylvia Hamilton.
“Those haven’t been approved yet” in the new plan, she said.
Gage said the hangars won’t be able to accommodate any planes larger than those operating at the airport now.
“We’re going to have a variety of hangars to meet everyone’s needs,” he said.
Alliance members and county officials have been at loggerheads for months over expansion plans at the airport, and the organization fiercely resisted a decision by supervisors last winter that directed the majority of future growth in the county’s general-aviation system to South County.
