Residents say they were ‘sold down the river’ over PDK airport expansion

DeKalb County Commissioner Ted Terry held a town hall meeting on Dec about PDK Airport Photo by Logan C Ritchie DeKalb Commissioner Ted Terry held a town hall meeting on Tuesday Dec to discuss a in the past few days approved million hangar expansion at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport PDK giving residents a chance to air their thoughts about the decision Held at Brookhaven City Centre Terry reviewed the process that led the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners to approve Sky Harbour s plan to build out eight hangars on the east side of PDK to hold corporate jets under a -year ground lease Sky Harbour was the only applicant to a request for proposal RFP issued by the county in The county is following the PDK master plan which calls for expansion Residents have expressed their concerns about an increase in noise and environmental litter The county estimates the contract over a -year period could bring in in revenue million of which would go to DeKalb County million to DeKalb school system and million to the City of Chamblee As of now the Sky Harbour contract is still being hammered out by DeKalb s Chief Procurement Officer Michelle Butler Terry revealed the contract has not been made available to the commissioners and he will make the details residents as soon as he receives them It s very fundamental to know what we ve negotiated Terry noted Larry Foster a -year resident of unincorporated DeKalb County commented PDK is already the least safe airport in the country in terms of runway incursions At runway incursions PDK is about seven times higher than other airports Foster claimed Approving the Sky Harbour contract will constitute the second-most damaging decision in the history of PDK Airport that impacts the wellness and wellbeing of the estimated one-tenth of DeKalb County s residents who live within the approximately three to four mile radius of the airport Foster stated Sky Harbour contends the number of repositioning flights will drop by percent therefore reducing noise and garbage The company will record its findings quarterly to DeKalb I want to know what happens when they fail the percent reduction compliance test unincorporated DeKalb County resident Beth Schissel announced The Federal Aviation Administration FAA defines PDK as a general aviation airport allowing a high volume of corporate general aviation jet traffic flight schools a robust helicopter district and helicopter flight instruction Brookhaven resident Anna Martin speaks at Commissioner Ted Terry s town hall on Dec Photo by Logan C Ritchie Brookhaven resident Anna Martin stated she s spoken to all of her neighbors and no one wants more planes coming through So here we have a new hangar being built for rich pompous CEO jerks to fly in because they don t like to fly commercial That s the truth of it Martin commented I m wondering if my husband and I might have to move Terry is proposing to the DeKalb commissioners a moratorium on all new hangar rise until the PDK master plan is updated and an FAA ban on night flights except for emergencies The PDK voluntary curfew encourages pilots to refrain from taking off or landing between p m and a m yet Terry revealed one of his constituents emails him daily because she has been awakened by an airplane How do we reduce night flights Can we ban them Can we take that voluntary curfew and turn it into a permission structure where they have to get permission to fly at night Terry required Terry encouraged participants to attend the Airport Advisory Board meetings and statement noise violations A general grumbling came from the audience Foster mentioned the reason people aren t calling in noise complaints is because they know that it s useless A woman in the audience shouted It s a farce Between the airport and the county there are no ongoing annual general fund contributions to an environmental healthcare and noise impact fund Terry declared However once Sky Harbour is up and running the county will set aside million dollars each year for residents who are experiencing high decibel levels of noise he noted Jamie Dutro served on the Citizens Advisory Committee for the PDK master plan We got sold down the river We re the ones who are going to suffer for it What good is it that you get cancer but the county s going to pay for it Dutro commented The post Residents say they were sold down the river over PDK airport expansion appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta