Logging Plan For Lebanon Airport Up for Review

Lebanon A proposal to remove more than 30 acres of trees from airport property along Poverty Lane is set to receive another look by the City Council tonight.

Residents submitted letters to councilors in November and December, urging them to revisit the pending tree-clearing project. Among the objections raised are concerns about the effect on property values, impacts on wildlife habitat , and potential increases in noise and light from the airport and nearby Interstate 89. They have also questioned the need for the tree clearing.

After initially rejecting the project which in addition to denuding 33 acres of trees will include removing 38 obstruction lights, replacing them with two 110-foot slow flashing beacons, and moving a fence the council approved the $1.2 million project in phases in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Ninety percent of the work is set to be paid for through federal funds, with the state and city each contributing 5 percent.

Though councilors set tonights meeting to discuss the issue, there is no indication they intend to change course. They have said the project is necessary to improve visibility for pilots along the southern side of the east-west runway, northwest of Poverty Lane and south of Interstate 89, and to comply with federal regulations and requirements by the citys insurer.

People who do this for a living at the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) say this is a risk, Mayor Georgia Tuttle said of the trees in a phone interview Tuesday. When a pilot flies into an airport with fog, storm or rain, they have to have more than a narrow landing zone.

In a memo included in the councils packet for tonights meeting, Airport Manager Rick Dyment said that the city committed to comply with FAA safety guidelines when it entered into an agreement with the federal government to operate and maintain the airport in 1941. Subsequently, the city has agreed to 39 FAA grant assurances tied to federal funds.

Dyment particularly pointed to FAA grant assurance No. 20, which requires that the airport take appropriate action to assure that such terminal airspace as is required to protect instrument and visual operations to the airport ... will be adequately cleared and protected by removing, lowering, relocating, marking, or lighting or otherwise mitigating existing airport hazards and by preventing the establishment or creation of future airport hazards.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters said in an email that the tree removal project is in accordance with federal regulations and will help to ensure the safety of the airport.

Federal air safety regulations require airports to identify and mitigate obstructions that may impact airport operations, Peters wrote. The obstruction removal project will enhance the safety of Lebanon Municipal Airport by removing obstructions.

With the support of federal funds, the city completed an obstruction study in 2009, which identified some of the hills and trees surrounding the airport as interfering with safe landings and takeoffs. It would be totally unrealistic to remove all obstructions, Dyment said in an interview on Tuesday.

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Logging Plan For Lebanon Airport Up for Review