Cleveland Debates What to do With Burke?

The vast expanse of land that makes up Burke Lakefront Airport has tantalized residents for decades as the last, best hope to give Cleveland a real lakefront, akin to Chicago, Milwaukee or Toronto.

And with two underperforming local airports - Burke and Cuyahoga County - the refrain from various quarters has long been to close Burke and merge operations.

But the hurdles to use Burke's 450 acres for a commercial center or housing or even a massive park are greater and more expensive than many realize.

While often called prime lakefront land, the reality is very different.

Most of Burke sits on garbage and dredge material. In fact, a Cleveland city dump since the time of horse-drawn wagons was located there and the garbage was burned until the 1950s.

Workers doing any digging on or near Burke are required to wear environmental hazmat suits because of the contamination, which includes PCBs, methane, oil, car tires and other debris.

Mike Hoyle, chief executive of Business Aircraft Group Inc., an aircraft management and sales company at Burke, doesn't believe the airport can be closed, both for the economic benefit it brings to Cleveland and for the simple reason that turning the land into a park would be too expensive.

City officials and others estimate that Burke contributes at least $100 million a year to the economy.

"You dig 4 feet and you're in sludge," Hoyle said. "My building sits on 6-foot-wide footers and it has settled 9 inches. You can't build a high-rise here."

Hoyle said that pilings had to be driven deep to support the one-story Aviation High School.

"There are limitations with the soil situation," said David Beach, executive director of EcoCity Cleveland. EcoCity Cleveland was part of a group that sponsored a report on Burke and its future in 2002.

"You can't build on the entire site because of the stability and hazardous chemicals," said Beach, who believes it could be reused in the future. "It will take careful study of what is feasible and desirable."

But long before any new use of the land can even be considered, another question must be answered.

Can it be done? Can Burke, in fact, be closed?

That may be finally answered, with a master plan of the airport that Burke Commissioner Khalid Bahhur expects to be complete later this year.

It would finally answer the question of "does Burke stay or does it go?"

"If it stays, we'll be able to say here's why, and if it goes, here's why," Bahhur said.

Businesses associated with Burke look forward to a definitive answer.

Under Mayor Michael White, they knew Burke was safe, they said. But for most of the last 30 years, there has been a "what if" about Burke that has created a difficult situation.

"It's very difficult to run a business out of Burke. No one will invest money here . . . until you get the confidence it isn't going to close," Hoyle said. "It's always been on the bubble."

If Burke goes, and the process could take years, a big question is where do the hospital helicopters, the Federal Reserve flights, the flight schools, corporate jets and others that use Burke go?

Some say other close-by reliever airports, such as Cuyahoga County, Lost Nation and Lorain County, could take portions. Of those, only Cuyahoga County has a control tower.

Using Hopkins is problematic because of the large commercial air traffic.

But Cuyahoga County Airport has its own problems, with the runways in need of immediate repair and renovation if the airport wants to keep its biggest client, Flight Options.

In fact, the spokesman said the runway conditions and snow removal work have caused Flight Options, which allows people to own fractional shares in a plane, to move some plane maintenance work to other cities.

"They [runways and taxiways] are above the FAA minimum standards," said Dennis Baker, director of corporate communications for Flight Options. And Baker said it wants to work with the county. But he added, the "clock is ticking" on how long Flight Options can wait for improvements before looking to move its headquarters and hundreds of employees elsewhere.

To close Burke, Cleveland would probably have to repay the Federal Aviation Administration $4.1 million in grants it received for airport upkeep.

But it might not be that simple.

The FAA could require Cleveland not just to move all operations to other airports, but could also require the city to reproduce Burke and its acreage at a different location.

"It's more than simply repaying the money," said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro. "We would do an airspace study . . . to see what the consequences are and does this create more congestion.

"We can say 'No, you can't close this.' "

Longtime Burke Commissioner Mike Barth, who left to run Lorain County airport, said he believes you can give people more access and keep the airport.

Barth, who left in 1999 after 28 years at Burke, including 10 as the airport's commissioner, said dredged material should continue to be dumped at Burke, which would ultimately allow a runway to be added to the north.

In the meantime, the southwest portion, near the old Hornblowers restaurant, could be opened up for the public.

Others, like Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, say gaining access to the land and the lakefront is too important; that even with all the hurdles, it would be better if Burke were closed.

"We all know the lakefront would be really prime land. We could have parks, entertainment, housing and retail," Dimora said.

"What land in the county isn't contaminated? You'll have to build with pilings," he said. "It's more difficult, more costly. But it's more desirable."

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