New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Tweed takes down last tree ‘obstruction’
NEW HAVEN — Fifteen years after Tweed New Haven Regional Airport began a concerted effort to remove trees and other navigational obstructions that have long reduced the effective landing length of its main runway, the last obstruction is down, officials said.
On Oct. 30, a contractor removed a mature tree that for decades had provided shade in the backyard of a home at 115 Laura Lane in East Haven, just steps from the New Haven border off Charter Oak Avenue,
Tweed officials said.
For many years, the presence of what once were 1,200 trees with more than 100 owners in the landing zone north of the main runway had resulted in the Federal Aviation Administration imposing a 353foot “displaced threshold.”
That effectively shortened the usable portion of the 5,600foot “Runway 20” to 5,247 feet for landings, said Hugh Manke, the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority’s attorney.
But in the end, after Tweed had spent years working out details and making offers with dozens of owners, just one tree remained — and owners Patrick and Shelley Solomine didn’t want to sell the tree.
Tweed, which doesn’t have the authority to condemn property, ended up approaching the Connecticut Airport Authority, which has oversight authority over airport safety statewide.
The authority, with which Tweed is involved in discussions about future cooperation that might at some point include the
CAA owning or managing Tweed, used a state statute that requires property owners to remove obstructions to navigation at an airport to get the tree removed.
The statute also requires that the airport pay just compensation, and that amount is still being negotiated, Manke said. The condemnation procedure wasn’t eminent domain, but was essentially “the same thing,” he said.
“We’ve been working for 15 years to take trees down and we’ve taken down probably 1,200 trees from more than 100 owners,” Manke said. “This is one where we weren’t able to negotiate.”
The Solomines couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. They have an unlisted phone number and appeared not to be home when the Register visited.
Tweed, which is owned by New Haven and run by the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority, straddles the New HavenEast Haven border and is located in both communities.
“The tree is gone,” said Tweed New Haven Airport Authority interim Executive Director Matt Hoey. “So now we go back to the FAA with proof of removal.”
The tree “was right in the flight path at the north end of the runway,” said Manke, pointing out that there was a fatal private plane crash on Charter Oak Avenue in East Haven — in which four people died.
He said he believes the FAA still has to sign off before the displaced threshold is officially removed.
“We were unable to do anything with respect to the displaced threshold project until we got this tree down,” he said. “We are very happy that it looks like we’ve resolved this thing.”
Airport Manager Jeremy Nielson said Tweed has long had funds in its capital budget to remove the displaced threshold, which involves removing arrows on the runway that show where the usable part begins and installing electronic aids to navigation along the approach.
“These jobs have been sitting there in anticipation of this tree coming down,” Nielson said. “Now that the tree’s down, we’re in position where we’re ready to go. It’s a project that we’re going to be looking to expedite on the planning side.”
This is by no means the first tree Tweed has had removed in the neighborhood.
Neighbor Rita Aceto, who has lived with her husband, Pasquale, on Laura Lane for 40 years, says Tweed took down two big trees in her backyard about four years ago.
Rita Aceto, who lives across the street and two doors down from the Solomines — but in New Haven, not East Haven — said she worries about the possibility of increased traffic at Tweed.
“They come down so low already,” she said of the planes landing at the airport. “My house just rattles. ... They’re pretty low when they take off and they’re really low when they come in.
“If (the size of the planes serving Tweed) get any bigger, it could be a lot worse,” Aceto said.