Pressure to Delay Airport Master Plan Vote May Jeopardize Final
Approval of Study

By JONATHAN BURKE

Public pressure to delay a vote could prevent adoption of the
proposed master plan for Martha's Vineyard Airport, the product of
a two-year, $332,370 study.

Conspicuous by its absence from the plan is the failure to designate
airport land for a new county jail, a concept which enjoys the support
of many in the community.

If a vote on the plan is delayed into 2003, four of the seven seats
on the airport commission will have been filled anew by a county
commission that is on record as supporting a new jail on airport land.
Paul Strauss and Nelson Smith, county commissioners-elect who will take
office Jan. 1, have likewise stated their support for the proposition.

"It's been a two-year-long process, and if you wait
until after January 1, three of the airport commissioners that worked on
it will no longer be available to talk on it," said Tim Carroll,
the vice chairman of the airport commission whose term expires Dec. 31.

"I certainly want to move forward with deliberate speed,
because the airport should be classified as a good neighbor and address
as much as possible of the community concerns," said John Alley,
another airport commissioner whose term is about to end. "To
proceed ahead without addressing them wouldn't bode well for
us."

Also expiring at year's end is the term of chairman Marc
Villa, who along with Mr. Carroll and Mr. Alley is eligible for
reappointment. The county commission must also fill the seat of Richard
Colson, who died in a plane crash last month.

Airport commissioners are scheduled to vote on the master plan Dec.
18. But as of last week, in addition to the county commission, four
Island towns, Steamship Authority governor Kathryn Roessel, the
Martha's Vineyard Commission, Dukes County sheriff Michael
McCormack and the Martha's Vineyard Transit Advisory Board had
called upon the airport commission to allow the public more time to
digest the recently published airport master plan.

Mr. Carroll said he is doing his best to respond to the concerns
raised. "I've reached out to the boards in question and
we're trying to schedule times to meet with them," he told
the Gazette this week. Mr. Carroll said he has already spoken with
Tisbury officials, and that on Tuesday night, airport manager Bill
Weibrecht attended the meeting of Oak Bluffs selectmen.

There is much at stake. The Federal Aviation Administration airport
plan covers 22 capital projects totaling $27 million. Once approved by
the FAA the master plan will serve as the main planning document for the
Island airport.

"After adoption, the plan goes to FAA and MAC [Massachusetts
Aeronautical Commission]," Mr. Alley explained. "It becomes
the blueprint for grant applications. They will look at the master plan
when you send requests for money."

But it is the projects for which the master plan does not provide
that are its most controversial elements.

"The jailhouse proposal merely got lip service in the master
plan," said Mr. Alley.

In a Dec. 4 letter to the airport commissioners, Sheriff McCormack
asked for 60 days "for the opportunity to meet with my consultants
and explore all of the options that may be available, including, but not
limited to, those that are outlined in Chapter 5, Landside Issues of the
Master Plan."

Mr. McCormack has requested that 24.4 acres of airport land be made
available for the construction of a new jail and a public training
facility. The current jail facility is outdated and in disrepair.

So far, in spite of the county commission's unanimous support
of the jail, the airport commissioners have followed the lead of the
FAA. In 1989, the FAA denied a request by Dukes County to release land
for the construction of a jail.

"Construction of the jailhouse of correction at its proposed
location would derogate the performance of the Martha's Vineyard
VOR [an air navigation aid], impairing the optimum availability of the
facility to the flying public, and therefore, would be a hazard to air
navigation," reads the master plan, citing language used by the
FAA.

On Oct. 2, the airport commission voted down a motion supporting Mr.
McCormack's proposal. "On the point of the county jail, it
was determined that a permanent release of airport land is not in the
best interests of the airport or the airport system in general,"
reads the master plan.

Still, those calling for a delayed vote have argued that there is a
need for greater public involvement.

"In quickly reviewing the draft plan, I noted that there was
not a detailed section covering the public process utilized in the
creation of the plan," wrote Tisbury town administrator Dennis
Luttrell in a Dec. 4 letter to the airport commission. "The
[Tisbury] board of selectmen is concerned that there may not be adequate
public input from the Island towns at this juncture for the regional
airport's plan to be adopted by the airport commission."

"We feel we have the responsibility to our residents and
property owners to request several forums for review and comment,"
wrote Virginia Jones, chairwoman of the West Tisbury planning board.

Public input regarding an airport master plan is encouraged by the
FAA but not required, FAA spokesman Jim Peters told the Gazette Tuesday.
"We encourage the airports to make their communities aware of
what's going on at the airport but there is no regulatory
requirement to do so," he said.

The FAA has an 18-page guide regarding citizen participation in
airport planning. It states in part that "the right of citizens to
be actively involved in molding the plans which will affect their future
is fundamental. To be effective, this involvement must begin early
enough in the planning program to assert a real influence over its
direction and decisions . . . Controversy should be minimized by
identifying and resolving issues via citizen involvement before they
become controversial."

According to Mr. Weibrecht, an airport advisory committee was
established two years ago. The committee advertised its role and sought
public ideas and comment, he said.

"We spent two years of public process and we've had a
number of public meetings," agreed Mr. Carroll.

In a Nov. 22 letter to Leslie Leland, chairman of the county
commission, Mr. Carroll wrote: "The master plan update in general
has been undertaken by three overlapping groups working in concert with
each other for the past two years: the public advisory team, client
group and user group."

The advisory team, according to Mr. Carroll, "met periodically
in public meetings" and "heard public comments that were
then incorporated into the master plan update." The user group
consisted of airport users, like pilots and mechanics; the client group
included Mr. Weibrecht, the MAC and the FAA.

The airport is one of approximately 540 commercial service airports
in country and one of about 400 that are classified as primary airports
because they see more than 10,000 takeoffs each year. It is one of eight
such airports in Massachusetts; the others are in Boston, Barnstable,
Nantucket, New Bedford, Norwood, Provincetown and Worcester.