FAA Hosts Open House on West Virginia International Yeager Airport's Plan To Expand Into Coonskin Park

Nov. 4—More than 50 people on Wednesday took part in the first of three public scoping meetings hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration to acquaint the public with, and begin to gauge its response to, West Virginia International Yeager Airport's plan to extend its airfield into Coonskin Park.

Those attending the event viewed exhibits detailing the scope of construction the project would entail, explaining why the work is needed and showing how Coonskin Park would be affected.

Personnel from the FAA, the firms it hired to conduct the environmental review, and the airport, were on hand to answer questions, spawning numerous and sometimes lengthy conversations with members of the public.

The number of attendees and their level of engagement at Wednesday's event "shows the high level of interest and concern the public has for the project," said Andrew Brooks, environmental program manager for the FAA's Eastern Region. "We need to hear from them. We don't know the Charleston area as well as the people who live here do."

A final decision by the FAA on how, or whether, to proceed with the airfield expansion and a related plan to replace the airport's 75-year-old passenger terminal is expected by the late summer of 2024, according to the FAA.

Hurdles to be cleared before that decision is made include an analysis of public comments on the scoping process, which ends Nov. 17, followed by an analysis of reasonable alternatives to the plan as proposed by the airport. Next, a draft Environmental Impact Statement will be prepared and made available to the public, followed by additional public meetings and another public comment period and the preparation of a final EIS and a decision by the FAA.

The airport seeks to lengthen its runway to 7,000 feet, by adding 285 feet to the existing runway, to meet the optimum takeoff lengths for the fleet of aircraft operating at the airport now or projected to be operating there in coming years. To enhance safety and meet federal standards, the airport also plans to add 1,000-foot safety areas at each end of the runway and increase the separation distance between the runway and the parallel taxiways that serve it.

To accommodate the planned airfield improvements, the airport would need to acquire about 400 of Coonskin Park's 1,000 acres to excavate up to 25.6 million cubic yards of fill from within the park to create a structure supporting the runway extension and safety areas. Coonskin Branch would either be rerouted or channeled through a culvert.

Most of the park's hiking trails and 20 picnic sites and shelters, and a section of Coonskin Drive, would be eliminated during construction, according to exhibits at the scoping meeting.

The airport has pledged to buy land and pay for recreational amenities to compensate for park land used to accommodate construction. Coonskin's pool, golf course, driving range, soccer stadium, skate park and pond lie outside the planned construction zone.

A plan to build a new 166,000-square-foot terminal building with six aircraft gates, a new apron and new access road also is part of the Charleston airport's development plan and will be included in the environmental review.

During pre-scoping activities for the environmental review, the FAA identified several preliminary alternatives to the airport's airfield improvement project to take into consideration, ranging from taking no action on the proposal to construction of an all-new airport. Several runway length and safety area configurations also will be considered, along with any additional alternatives identified during the scoping process.

Wednesday's scoping meeting, held at the Charleston Embassy Suites, was followed by a similar session at the same venue on Thursday. A virtual scoping meeting is scheduled for Monday, from 6 to 8 p.m. Register at https://yeagerairporteis.com/get-involved/meeting_3 to take part in that meeting.

Rick Steelhammer is a features reporter. He can be reached at 304-348-5169 or rsteelhammer@hdmediallc

.com. Follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.

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