New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Alders approve new 43-year Tweed lease
NEW HAVEN — It came down to jobs, future economic development for the entire city and the region surrounding it.
Following extensive debate about Tweed New Haven Regional Airport’s future — and the neighborhoods surrounding it in both New Haven and East Haven — the Board of Alders’ vote on a new 43-year airport lease agreement that opens the door for airport expansion was unanimous.
Including its impact on the economy, the elimination of $1.8
million in annual city and state subsidies — which will see the city pay $325,000 to support Tweed this year and $162,500 next year — and some late changes made the deal more palatable.
“I believe the benefits to New Haven outweigh my concerns, and therefore I support this lease,” said Alder Abbe Roth, D-7. “The $70 million that this deal infuses into a new terminal is something that we cannot ... do on our own.”
She said that “while it’s impossible to be certain,” she believes the expansion the new lease will bring will help expand the city’s economy “and grow our tax base.”
Only a handful of residents were physically present in the aldermanic chamber in City Hall. Others were watching on the Board of Alders YouTube channel. The lease previously was unanimously approved by the alders’ Finance Committee.
The last-minute changes came in an amendment introduced by Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola, D-18, whose district includes the airport and neighborhoods abutting it on the New Haven side.
Among the changes were the removal of language pertaining to eminent domain — although the city (not the airport authority) continues to have that power — the additional of language stating the authority, “to the extent permissible by federal law,” does not intend to use Tweed for freight operations and a requirement for performance reviews every 10 years rather than every 20 as previously proposed.
The amendment, approved unanimously, also requires the authority to maintain adequate flood insurance, work to revise FEMA flood maps, establish a “Public Environmental Stewardship Committee consisting of three New Haven residents and three East Haven residents and study “and, to the extent feasible, implement” a carbon offset program.
“I stand in favor of this lease,” which will take the financial burden for Tweed off taxpayers, said DeCola after the vote on the amendment.
“This is important — they’re saying that they want to be a good neighbor,” DeCola said. “I’m going to trust them on their word.” In recent months, “I’ve gotten to know them,” he said, and “this is a true dialogue.”
Majority Leader Richard Furlow, D-27, commended DeCola for his work. “He was able to really negotiate and be a mediator,” he said.
After the meeting, representatives of Tweed and its contract operator were pleased.
“I couldn’t be happier — it’s a unanimous vote,” said Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon. “That would not have been the case a few weeks ago, but our teams have worked really hard with these alders and with the community to get this package in a much better place, from their perspective.
“... The board and I have said from Day One that we want to be good neighbors, we want to be partners with the city,” Scanlon said. “I think the unanimous vote tonight reflects that they agree that we’ve met that standard.”
The amended, restated lease agreement with the airport authority that the alders approved now allows the authority to negotiate a new facility lease and operating agreement with Avports LLC, the company owned by a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs that has managed Tweed for the past 22 years.
Scanlon, standing alongside Avports CEO Jorge Roberts after the vote, said he expects the agreement to come together fairly quickly. “I’m confident that we can get it done very soon ... and that will be a public process,” he said.
“I’m very excited for the trust the board has put in the authority and ourselves to continue this longstanding relationship that we’ve building over the last 20 years,” said Roberts. He said he was confident “we can bring new jobs” to the city with “a partnership that we feel will ... bring new destinations and develop the airport in a way that it deserves for the benefit of the community.”
Mayor Justin Elicker also was pleased with the result.
“I want to thank the alders and many within the community for supporting a plan that will make Tweed more attractive to prospective air carriers, more convenient for the traveling public, eliminates the need for state and city subsidies, provides improvements to the surrounding neighborhood and generates much-needed jobs and economic activity in the region,” Elicker said in a statement sent out after the vote.
The vote “clears the way for the city, the airport authority, and Avports to finally begin longawaited infrastructure improvements,” he said. “We heard neighbor and city concerns around traffic, noise, environmental issues, and the city’s subsidy and spent many months negotiating this deal with those concerns at the forefront.”
The final result “is a dramatic improvement for the surrounding neighborhood and the city as a whole.”
The plans calls for a broader partnership under which Avports will invest an initial $70 million, and up to $100 million to extend Tweed’s runway from 5,600 feet to 6,635 feet and build a new, 74,000square-foot, carbon-neutral terminal with 4-6 departure gates on the East Haven side of the airport, which a new entrance to be constructed off Proto Drive in East Haven.
Avports also would be fully responsible for Tweed’s operating expenses, eliminating the need for subsidies.
In the near term, Avports and the authority, with a $1.2 million contribution from Avelo Airlines, the startup airline that will begin flights to five Florida cities, will renovate the existing terminal and the airport’s older administration building into departure and arrival terminals and add 271 parking spaces and several temporary trailers.
The City Plan Commission approved the plan last month and the trailers Wednesday night.
Residents who came to the meeting were not happy with the result.
“I guess I don’t think you should destroy one of the best parts of New Haven in order to make it better,” said Morris Cove resident Jules Scanley. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t trust anything anymore.”
Neighbor Gabriela Campos said, “I’m very sad because I know for a fact that the alders weren’t given all the information.” She called the process “disingenuous.”
John Carlson, the Republican candidate for mayor, who lives across town on Greenwich Avenue, called removal of the eminent domain language “a small victory” but said expansion of the airport “will increase asthma for New Haven youth.”