Mar. 23—NEW HAVEN — The Federal Aviation Administration has extended the public comment period on the draft Environmental Assessment of Tweed New Haven Regional Airport's proposed expansion project by 15 days to May 1 after being approached by representatives of both the airport and expansion opponents.
But an opponent to Tweed expansion said a 15-day extension isn't enough and the FAA should grant a 45-day extension.
The public comment period was to have been 45 days, ending April 16. Instead, it will be 60 days, ending May 1, according to correspondence from an FAA official.
The Tweed New Haven Airport Authority will hold a public information workshop and hearing on the draft EA at East Haven High School April 1. It will begin with an "open house" question-and-answer session from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by a more formal hearing from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
"Expansion of HVN's runway and a new terminal are incredibly important to the future of Southern Connecticut," said Tom Rafter, executive director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority. "Our team of experts have spent many hours over the course of two years working closely with the FAA, CT DEEP, EPA and the Army Corp of Engineers to draft this Environmental Assessment for public review.
"Extending the comment period demonstrates the commitment to gathering as much public feedback as possible," Rafter said. "It also shows that the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process works.
Lorena Venegas, an East Haven resident, member of the 10,000 Hawks community group and an active participant in the Keep Tweed Small and Fly Tweed Facts Facebook groups, said the community needs more time to comment.
"The FAA should grant a full 45-day extension since the numerical values and methodology in the Draft Environmental Assessment have not been shown to the public at any open, public meeting in East Haven in the last 2 years," Venegas said.
"As an Environmental Justice town, #17 out of 169, there is no town deal, no community benefits plan, no taxation revenue and every burden of air/noise pollution, traffic, wetlands encroachment, wildlife destruction and health impacts inside designated FEMA flood zones," Venegas said.
The Environmental Assessment, released in early March, says that extending Tweed's runway and building a new terminal on the East Haven side would improve the airport's impact on the environment, among other things.
Among the EA's findings is that the project would reduce overall noise by shifting aircraft ground noise farther from nearby homes.
It would improve air quality in adjacent neighborhoods in part because aircraft would be farther away from homes, while having a minimal impact on undisturbed wetlands, affecting less than 0.2 acre, with mitigation measures to achieve an overall policy goal of "no net loss," the report concluded.
While the plan calls for the runway to be extended from 5,600 feet to 6,635 feet, the draft EA found that a 60-foot reduction in that proposed length could avoid construction impacts within tidal wetlands. "Therefore, the proposed runway length would be approximately 6,575 feet," which would accomplish Tweed's goals "while fully complying with FAA design and safety standards," it says.
The plan also calls to build a new 80,000-square-foot terminal on the East Haven side of the airport. A new airport entrance would be off Proto Drive in East Haven, with access off Coe Avenue.
The EA found that the expansion project would not significantly affect traffic at 11 key intersections. A new traffic signal and intersection improvements would be installed at Proto Drive and Coe Ave in East Haven.
The EA is posted at a link on Tweed's TweedMasterPlan.com and FlyTweed.com websites. Paper copies will be available to view at all five branches of the New Haven Free Public Library, as well as the Hagaman Memorial Library in East Haven and the Blackstone Memorial Library in Branford.
___
(c)2023 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.)
Visit the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) at www.nhregister.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
