Jobee Acres residents are interested in a March 21 public meeting where the Aberdeen Regional Airport's wetland removal project will be discussed.
Aberdeen attorney Drew Johnson, representing the Jobee Acres Association, attended Thursday's Aberdeen Airport Board meeting, along with Bob Gruman and Mike Erickson, who live at Jobee Acres. That housing development is on the southeast side of the airport.
Johnson asked the airport board about the March 21 meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. in the community room of the Aberdeen Public Safety Building. Terry Helms, principal of Helms and Associates, told Johnson he'd be happy to meet with him anytime. The airport and the city, Helms said, want to work with Jobee Acres.
Helms and Associates, the airport's consulting engineer, will present storm water management alternatives associated with the wetland removal project at the meeting.
The wetland removal is part of the long-term runway decoupling project at the airport. One of the goals of the project is reducing wildlife at the airport.
The city plans to fill in the wetlands at the airport, meaning there will be less water storage.
"Therefore, we need to discharge more of it," Helms said in an interview Thursday afternoon.
In addition to wildlife reduction, the project also involves runway protection zones on the northwest corner and north side of the airport, Helms said.
The purpose of the March 21 meeting is to inform the public of options to manage the stormwater discharge, Helms said.
During Thursday's meeting, Helms said the project will affect every wetland at the airport.
In an interview, Johnson said Jobee Acres has had water problems from time to time over the years, particularly in 2007. Some of the water that goes through Jobee Acres comes from wetlands on airport property. That's why the group wants to work with the airport in its improvement projects and stay properly informed, he said. Jobee Acres' goal is to make the water problems less severe.
The more concrete covers an area, the less area for water to be absorbed into the ground, Johnson said. That water might then go places it didn't in the past, he said.
The Jobee Acres Association has nothing against the airport improvement project and doesn't want to hold it up, Johnson said.
"We just want to make sure that our interests at Jobee Acres are considered when they do that type of work," he said in an interview.
