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05/15/2018 12:00 AMThe saga surrounding the possible expansion of the main Tweed New Haven Regional Airport runway will see no level of resolution this spring after the General Assembly opted not to take up a bill addressing one of the main legal contentions of the debate before the close of session on May 9. Even with no decision, parties on both sides of the debate are still working to make their opinions heard.
The airport, situated in New Haven and East Haven, once saw a great deal of traffic, but air traffic and passengers have dropped by the thousands over the past few decades. Advocates for expansions say extending the 5,600-foot runway another 1,000 feet could boost airport business and travel to New Haven with more commercial flights to and from places like Washington D.C. and Chicago.
However, an expansion would involve paving the safety zone and would violate a 1997 act forbidding expansion and a 2009 Memorandum of Agreement. Residents in the area closest to Tweed have long been weary of the airport and the City of New Haven continually pushing for concessions.
The agreements surrounding expansion at Tweed were written into state statue and now have to be taken up the legislature if they are to be reversed or amended. House Bill No. 5537, An Act Concerning Shared Solar Facilities and Municipal Airports, came to the Planning and Development Committee of the legislature this session that just closed on May 9. A paragraph allowing the runway expansion is buried in the bill, but residents for and against the proposal still flocked to Hartford this March to submit testimony.
Residents in the area closes to Tweed submitted testimony opposing the expansion of the runway, saying the expansion would increase traffic and noise, decrease the value of their homes, and said tying the expansion to shared solar facilities constitutes “a bait-and-switch tactic”.
On the other side of the argument, residents, Tweed representatives, and representatives of organizations such as the Greater New Haven Chamber and the South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) said the airport expansion would foster economic growth in the region. SCRCOG Executive Director Carl Amento submitted a resolution from the council supporting the bill.
“The SCRCOG supports more commercial air service at Tweed New Haven Airport, and further supports the repeal of Section 15-120j(c) of the Connecticut General Statutes which provides, in pertinent part, that ‘Runway 2-20 of the airport shall not exceed the existing paved runway length of five thousand six hundred linear feet.”
In May, the New Haven Board of Alders approved a resolution supporting the lengthening of the main runway, but the decision was still left in the hands of legislators who said there was not time to take up the bill before the close of session. Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-11) released a statement on May 9 explaining why the bill did not come up this session.
“The City of New Haven made progress this year by finally developing an outreach campaign,” he said. “The submission of a proposal to the Board of Alders, the meeting at Jepson School on April 30, and the community meeting at Nathan Hale School on May 5 all occurred too late in the legislative session for a proposal to be developed with the opportunity for robust community participation, consideration of the relocation of the terminal to diminish the traffic impact on New Haven, and the overall impact of enhanced commercial use of the airport. I am sure that the city will take the next several months to reach out to the affected neighborhood, all stakeholders, and elected officials in order to build a consensus that respects both economic development opportunities and preservation of one of New Haven’s core neighborhoods.”
However, East Haven Mayor Joe Maturo said if this was a bill Looney truly wanted to see pass this session, he could have made it happen.
“Senator Looney is very powerful in the state,” he said. “If he wanted it, I am sure he could have gotten it. Apparently the City of New Haven citizens who live by the airport put a lot of pressure on the senator and that’s why it didn’t come up in the senate this year.”
Maturo said the rightful place for the debate over the expansion belongs with the legislature, not local officials.
“I heard from some East Haven residents who were not pleased with it, but again it’s in the state legislature as the judge ruled and I have been saying for years it has nothing to do with my position or the Mayor of New Haven’s position,” he said. “It has to do basically with the state legislature and the state legislature is not interested in passing that bill.”
Outside of the legal argument, there is one potential development being thrown around regarding the airport that Maturo said he adamantly opposes.
“They are thinking about moving the terminal to the East Haven side of the airport to alleviate some of the traffic problems that would be created in New Haven,” he said. “That will not happen. I am greatly opposed to alleviating any traffic in New Haven and putting it the burden on East Haven. If New Haven wants that airport, then let [passengers] travel through New Haven.”