Airport finalizes safety program

  DAVE HARDEN presided over his first meeting as chairman of the Dare County Airport Authority at Wednesday night’s meeting.

  Dare County Airport Authority passed a milestone at its July 28 meeting, hearing from engineer John Massey that the long-running program to bring the airport up to state and FAA safety standards had been finalized and sent to the state for approval.

  The program, costing several million dollars and taking about 10 years, has included cutting trees and buying a mobile home park, Scarborough Square. The authority originally just wanted avigation rights over the mobile home park, but the owners, John Wilson and Billy Parker, said selling those rights would affect the property values too much, so after about five years of negotiations, the authority bought the property, inheriting with it the responsibility of keeping up the property’s septic tank and well system as well as seeing to drainage issues.

  Having just received the information on the safety program, the state has not yet certified it, but the two problem items are not expected to hold back certification. The authority has been able to pay most of the cost through grants.

  Obviously pleased, George Wood, himself an environmental engineer as well as a member of the authority, commented, ”The important thing to remember is that it is the viability of this airport, a safe approach. We’ve worked hard. We’ve got an airport and we will continue to  have an airport.”

  Drainage at the airport was also addressed in Massey’s presentation. The park experienced many problems last year during heavy rains, and Massey has designed a system of ditches, swales, constructed wetlands and outfall pipes to address this issue. He worked with Jan Deblieu, a local environmentalist, to make it as environmentally safe as possible. Much of the water will be retained on the property, with only the occasional overflow being directed into the sound. The authority voted unanimously Wednesday night to allow Massey to bid the project, with an expected completion time of mid October.

  In a final note, Airport attorney Robert Hobbs said this meeeting marked his twentieth anniversary as attorney for the airport. Typically, Hobbs attends every meeeting, advising the group on actions, keeping the motions in proper order and handling legal communications with other groups, individuals and attorneys.