Hub Foes End 4-Year Fight over Project at N.C. Airport

Oct. 20, 2006
One of those suits challenged a state water-quality permit that allowed construction of the hub to begin earlier this month.

Opponents of the FedEx hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport have agreed to drop their lawsuits for a $15,500 payment from the airport, quietly ending more than four years of legal battles.

"It's good to have all this behind us," said Henry Isaacson, chairman of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority.

But the attorney for the opponents said they're watching carefully to see the results of a federal study of the hub's noise impact.

They wouldn't rule out further legal action, he said.

The $15,500 covers part of the opponents' out-of-pocket expenses and settles four lawsuits.

One of those suits challenged a state water-quality permit that allowed construction of the hub to begin earlier this month.

The sorting hub, first announced in 1998, will serve FedEx packages along the East Coast. The company expects about 23 planes each weeknight when the hub opens in 2009, growing eventually to 63 nightly flights.

Opponents were fighting a judge's decision late last year that cleared the way for PTI to fill in 23 acres of wetlands and streams along Brush Creek.

David M. Clark, the attorney for the opponents, said last month that he would file an appeal to that decision and ask a judge to block the project.

But on Tuesday, Clark said the airport made the first offer to settle the suits, and it seemed like the right thing to do, given how long and complex the appeals process could be.

He said the group is satisfied that changes were made in permits partly because of the pending suits.

"I don't think anybody's real happy about it," he said, "but on the other hand, we feel like things have been accomplished. Some of the changes they've made in control of water out there will be helpful. It's not all over by a long shot."

He said that the Federal Aviation Administration will hold a hearing in November to discuss the noise study's recommendations to minimize aircraft noise for residents near the hub.

Ted Johnson, the airport's executive director, said the lawsuit cost the authority "a few million" in legal fees. Clark declined to say how much the opponents have spent.

Isaacson estimated that the airport fought as many as six lawsuits before 17 judges over the past four years.

This is the second major milestone for the FedEx project in three weeks. At midnight Sept. 30, the airport handed over control of the 175-acre site for the company to begin construction. It will build a sorting hub that's part of a $519 million expansion project at the airport that includes a 9,000-foot runway and rerouting the airport road system.

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