San Martin Airport eyed for runway extension to accommodate
jets
San Martin – An upcoming environmental analysis will determine if and when Santa Clara County is able to expand its South County airport to accommodate corporate jet traffic.
“The true test is the environmental impact statement,” said Andy Richards, manager of the San Francisco Airports District of the Federal Aviation Administration. “Is it a good aviation prospect? Yes. Is it the right aviation prospect? I don’t know yet.”
Richards was speaking at a meeting of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance. About 75 South County residents packed the Lions Club Hall to voice their opposition to the expansion. Residents think allowing corporate traffic will alter the character of South County and that expansion plans drive down the value of property near the airport because the property is subject to increased development restrictions. They are upset that the county’s roads and airports department wants to use South County to meet the aviation needs of Silicon Valley.
“We want San Martin to remain a rural community,” said Monica Winders, who leads the neighborhood alliance team working on the airport project. “It doesn’t meet community needs. It doesn’t benefit local citizens. That’s really where our heartbreak is.”
County officials have eyed expansion of San Martin airport since 2001. Their plan extends the airport’s current 3,100-foot runway to accommodate small and medium corporate jets used by commercial businesses. Runway width also will expand, from 75 to 100 feet. A two-story, 12,000-square-foot terminal building will be constructed, as well as a new maintenance building and two water storage tanks.
Carl Honaker, director of county airports, said the expansion is critical because facilities in Palo Alto and San Jose have reached their capacity for small commercial traffic. He said that the development of Coyote Valley and steady growth in Gilroy and Morgan Hill also will drive up demand for the airport.
“Whether the growth is form down here or through migration [from North County], we don’t know yet,” Honaker said. “I don’t have the luxury of looking at it as the manager of this airport. I need to do what’s best from the perspective of the entire county. This is the only place we have to put anybody.”
But the county can not expand the airport unless their plans are approved and funded by the FAA. All improvements at county airports must be paid for with money generated by rental fees and fuel sales or through federal grants. Last year, the county petitioned the FAA to pay for the needed environmental review. That study has not yet been selected for funding, though it likely will be by next year.
The key question is how extensive that review will be. Richards said he didn’t know if the county would be required to meet the relatively lower threshold of an environmental assessment, or if the FAA will order an environmental impact statement, which would place more obstacles in the way of expansion plans. The environmental review process, he said, is the best opportunity for residents to fight expansion, though the project is likely to advance if the FAA decides it’s necessary.
“For the success of airports, you have to have a balance of community and aviation support,” Richards said. “I don’t say we’re necessarily going to achieve consensus, but we are going to have a plan that is best for the community as a whole.”
