Earlier this month attorneys for the City of Wetumpka and four tenants of the Wetumpka Airport responded and rebutted allegations made by both sides regarding grant assurances and the relocation of the airport.
Now it is left up to the Federal Aviation Administration to determine which side is right.
In late October the Washington D.C.-based law office of Spiegel & McDiarmid, representing the City of Wetumpka, answered the FAA complaint as well as a motion to dismiss.
In its answer to the complaint, the city’s attorneys said the decision to limit the length of new leases at the airport was based on a “strategic assessment of the future” of the airport.
The city, in conjunction with the Elmore County Economic Development Authority, is awaiting a feasibility study by the Alabama Department of Transportation to evaluate the conditions of the existing airport and determine the ability to expand at the current site or to relocate the airport.
The answer to that question came two paragraphs later in the city’s answer to the FAA, where it stated, “depending on the results of the feasibility study, there is a real possibility that the city may seek to relocate the airport.”
The initial report of the feasibility study is expected to be issued by February 2013.
The reason for possible relocation of the airport may be there is no room for the current airport to expand.
Currently there are two runways at the airport. One is paved, and the other is turf
The city contends the current length of the runways will not “support a balanced field takeoff” for larger airplanes or small jets.
The city also contends the current pavement at the airport would not be able to withstand the operation of larger aircraft.
So to curtail the city from moving forward to relocate the airport, current hangar tennants McDonough Properties, managed by David Ramsey, M&R Holdings, managed by Roger Kemp, Tri-D, owned by Theresa Harvey and managed by her husband Richard Chaput, and Col. Frank Barnett, filed an FAA complaint against the City of Wetumpka on Aug. 29.
The complainants say the city is failing to provide a long-term rental lease under the stipulations of a FAA grant assurance.
Further in the complaint, it contends the city is not doing what it can to make it a viable, working airport under the stipulations of another FAA grant assurance.
While attorney Wade Ramsey, who is representing the complainants, contends “the city cannot use the excuse that is relocating the airport to justify its violation of its grant assurances,” the complainants make no bones that they don’t want to see a larger airport in Wetumpka.
In the reply to the city’s response to the complaint, Ramsey wrote, “it is utterly ridiculous to think that Wetumpka needs a larger airport when nearby facilities will more than adequately serve the commercial aviation needs of Wetumpka.”
Now, it’s up to the FAA to decide.
http://www.thewetumpkaherald.com
http://www.airnav.com/airport/08A
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