Valley Independent Sentinel

State Lawmakers Try To Resuscitate Airport Project

by Mike Russo | Mar 22, 2010 8:31 am

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Posted to: Oxford

Local officials hope a revised law will help restart a $33 million construction project at Waterbury-Oxford Airport.

Keystone Aviation plans to build a 273,000 square-foot airplane hanger on 10-acres owned by the state Department of Transportation.

When completed, the hangar will house 30 corporate jets for Key Air Corporation, a plane chartering company affiliated with Keystone Aviation.

The company is expected to produce 300 aviation jobs and boost the local economy by $54 million annually.

Background

The Oxford Conservation and Inland/Wetlands Commissions approved the project three years ago.

State law called for an environmental impact report on the project required.

The report is supposed to detail any negative effect the construction could have on the land and community.

Oxford officials argued the report wasn’t needed, since there were plenty of existing reports available on the airport.

Keystone Aviation hired B&L Companies to do the report.

OPM v DOT

However, the state’s Office of Policy and Management (OPM) terminated the project just before a public hearing on the environmental report was scheduled to take place.

OPM said the report could not be accepted because it didn’t come from the state DOT.

In a letter to the state DOT, OPM questioned whether the DOT had the legal authority to delegate the preparation of the environmental report to a third party.

A new report, written by another company, was needed.

According to Herman Schuler, Oxford’s Economic Development Director, this would delay the project almost a year and cost the taxpayers $135,000 for a new report.

“This outcome would be a colossal waste of time and the taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Solution?

So, state Sen. Rob Kane (R – 32) and state Rep. David Labriola (R-131) presented a bill to the state Transportation Committee during a public hearing earlier this month to consider tweaking the environmental law now delaying the project.

The proposed change would require a developer to pay the DOT to hire a consultant to complete the report. The DOT would then pay the consultant.

A second section of the bill prohibits OPM from denying a report on the grounds that it was conducted by a third party — if the DOT (or another state agency) is satisfied with the report.

Kane said the purpose of the bill is to change the wording of the regulation to allow the state to accept the Oxford Airport report and let the project to move forward.

“In these dire economic times, anytime we can get $33 million in private investment and 300 new jobs, we should do it,” he said.

Currently the bill is in its early stages and may have to go to the state environmental committee.

While Kane sees a long way to go, Labriola is optimistic about the bill’s chances.

“This would be a big boom for the local economy,” he said.

Both Kane and Labriola are hoping to have the bill approved and signed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell by the end of the legislative session on May 5.

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