Harp lobbies for bill to boost Tweed airport

HARTFORD — Mayor Toni Harp lobbied her former colleagues Monday to advance an issue that has been stalled for years, while immediate neighbors of Tweed New Haven Regional Airport reiterated their objections.

The Planning and Development Committee of the legislature heard testimony on a bill that would allow the 1,000-foot runway safety zone at Tweed to be paved, thus extending the main runway to 6,600 feet, which the city said would attract more carriers to the airport.

The paragraph on the runway is buried in a bill that would allow establishment of a pilot program for a shared solar facility at the airport.

Mayor Toni Harp said Greater New Haven has a global presence in many fields, particularly education, health care, pharmaceutical research and in the arts.

“We are eager to provide for a great city at the hub of a great region,” Harp said of the need for expanded air service beyond a connection to Philadelphia and with other carriers beside American Airlines.

“Wouldn’t it be preferable to keep residents in Connecticut for the first and last legs of their flights?” Harp asked, rather than sending them to other airports for connections.

State Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, who chaired the committee, said the popularity of Tweed “depends greatly on your proximity to those runways.”

He said 80 percent of his constituents, who come from both New Haven and East Haven, feel paving that safety zone makes good sense from both an economic and safety perspective.

Lemar said that support dries up in Morris Cove in New Haven and nearby homes in East Haven.

To allay the concerns of those residents, Harp pointed to the noise mitigation program they have undertaken for the 185 homes “most highly impacted” at a cost of up to $40,000 each for new windows, insulation and air conditioning.

“I have visited some of those homes and in fact you can’t hear a thing,” Harp said. “We are getting more and more support particularly from those homeowners who ... are receiving that service.”

She said traffic calming measures also have been installed to slow traffic.

“We have done all that we can do, we believe, to help to offset the negatives of the airport,” the mayor said.

Rachel Heerema was one of the residents who submitted testimony in opposition to extending the runway.

“There is considerable sustained community opposition to Tweed Airport’s extension of its runway 2-20 into the wetlands and the related impact on Long Island Sound and the Morris Creek Nature Preserve,” she wrote.

Susan Campion challenged the assumptions of the past 25 years that if the runway is expanded “the airlines will come.”

She also said the history of the airport and nearby residents has been one of broken promises.

Campion also incorporated the earlier testimony of Kevin Buterbaugh, another neighbor, who said the “current runway is well within the high risk flood areas as determined by FEMA. Most land at the airport has a lower elevation than the runways — meaning it is even more exposed to coastal flooding and storm surges.”

Champion said continued financial support of Tweed by the city and state can’t be justified.

Another neighbor, Charles Mascola, wrote that the “loss of homes and taxable parcels necessary for the growth of (Tweed) will offset any financial gains that the airport produces.”

For the proponents, however, the issue is economic growth to increase the tax base by attracting businesses.

Matthew Nemerson, New Haven’s economic development administrator, said to be regionally competitive, most high-tech firms need to be 15 to 20 minutes from an airport that at least goes to a major connection such as Chicago or Washington.

He said New Haven is competing against 350 other metro areas in the country and 49 other states, and an airport makes the difference as to where a business will locate.

Vincent Petrini, a vice president at the Yale New Haven Hospital System, said more robust airport service is “critical to the health of the state, not just New Haven.”

“As one of the largest employers in the state — some 25,000 — critical to our growth as we attract and retain members of our medical team. It is critical to the provision of critical medical services in our region,” he said.

John Picard, a member of the Tweed Airport Authority, said the state now subsidizes Tweed with $1.5 million in funding. With a longer runway, he said in time, it could become selfsustaining.

He said the Greater New Haven region is one of the most underserved markets in the country with 1.2 million people.

“A lot of our folks spend more time going to LaGuardia and Kennedy (airports) than they spend on a plane trying to reach where they are traveling,” Harp said. “So many people want the convenience of flying at Tweed.”

Harp was asked whether the city had considered buying the homes of people close to the airport. The mayor said they do not have the money to do that and she felt the mitigation they already have provided is solving the issues.