Jan. 16--NEW HAVEN -- Tweed New Haven Regional Airport is gearing up to begin construction on a new "wildlife hazard deterrent fence" to keep animals like the deer that was struck by a plane taking off on Sept. 20, 2012, off the runways.
A "job meeting" to cover scheduling issues, among other things, will take place Monday, Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Tim Larson said Wednesday at a monthly meeting in which the authority also unanimously approved a grant agreement with the Connecticut Airport Authority.
"We will make sure we will give plenty of notice to residents in both communities," Larson said. The work will take place "primarily in the wetlands in East Haven," Larson said.
Work also will take place along a section of Dean Street in New Haven that wasn't previously fenced, said Chuck Kurtz, vice president for engineering and development for Avports, Tweed's contract manager.
Tweed is still trying to acquire property "from a handful of neighbors," said Larson. The authority previously had "a rude awakening" when "we were working on it and thought we were on airport property," but actually weren't, he said.
Officials would like to avoid such issues in the future, Larson said.
The grant agreement is necessary because the state is paying $146,849, representing 7.5 percent of the total $1.96 million cost of the project, according to the resolution the authority approved Wednesday.
The Tweed New Haven Airport Authority previously approved a $1.76 million grant agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration, representing 90 percent of the total cost for design and construction.
Tweed, via the city of New Haven, is responsible for the remaining 2.5 percent, or $48,950, which will come from city bond funds allocated to the authority.
Wednesday's meeting was the first since Airport Manager Lori Hoffman-Soares' abrupt departure last week. Former Assistant Manager Diane Jackson was introduced as interim manager.
Authority Chairman Mark Volchek and Larson both said the authority was confident in Jackson's abilities to run the airport until a permanent manager is chosen.
Volchek said later that he has expressed a desire to Avports, which employs Jackson and employed Hoffman-Soares, for Tweed's permanent manager to have a strong background in marketing and air-service development.
"I think it's important for the airport to have a permanent airport manager very soon," he said.
Eric Billowitz, who previously had served as Tweed's interim manager and is now manager of the Avports-managed Stewart International Airport in New York, also will help out at Tweed and will be in New Haven one day a week, officials have said.
No one connected to Tweed or Avports has been willing to say why Hoffman-Soares left, beyond saying that she departed "to pursue other opportunities."
Volchek and Avports Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Harden both declined further comment on the issue Wednesday.
Tweed awarded a $1.5 million contract to construct the fence last month to G. B. Hastie Fence Co. of Agawam, Mass.
Hastie was low bidder when bids were opened on Oct. 22, said Susan Godshall, Tweed's administrative director.
Godshall has said Tweed anticipates that the fence will be complete by April 15.
The work must be done by May 1 because the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will not allow work to take place after that date for fear that it might interfere with bird breeding season, she has said.
The Canadian owner of an air ambulance that was seriously damaged when it struck a deer on the airport's on Sept. 20, 2012, sued the airport and Avports in federal court last month, seeking $5 million in damages.
The plane was carrying a hospital patient when it struck and killed the deer, which wandered onto the runway during takeoff. Several other deer also were visible, officials have said, and the lawsuit says that "numerous wild deer were present on airport runways and on areas of the airport designated for landings and takeoffs" at that time.
The four-page lawsuit names the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority and McLean, Va.-based AFCO Avports Management LLC.
Call Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722.
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