MIDDLETOWN — Since negotiations with a homeowner have reached a deadlock, a spokesperson with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation said the quasi-state agency has "no choice" but to shorten by nearly 500 feet one of runways at Newport State Airport.
“As negotiations to secure an aviation easement with the homeowner to address that hazard has reached an impasse, we have no choice but to relocate runway threshold to comply with [the Federal Aviation Administration's] federal grant assurance #20," John Goodman, director of media and public relations with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, wrote to The Daily News in a Jan. 16 email.
The FAA’s federal grant assurance #20 pertains to hazard removal and mitigation. It says: “[The airport sponsor] will take appropriate action to assure that such terminal airspace as is required to protect instrument and visual operations to the airport (including established minimum flight altitudes) will be adequately cleared and protected by removing, lowering, relocating, marking, or lighting or otherwise mitigating existing airport hazards and by preventing the establishment or creation of future airport hazards.”
Goodman confirmed the "large hazard in the Runway 4 approach" is a tree. Airspace obstruction removals and trees are listed as "general aviation community concerns" in a presentation for a Jan. 12 public meeting of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, during which the strategic business plan for Newport State Airport, also known as the Col. Robert F. Airpark, was discussed.
Goodman didn't immediately respond to an email Sunday requesting identification of the homeowner with whom the Rhode Island Airport Corporation has reached a stalemate.
The Daily News in 2018 reported on a 60-foot maple tree on Mary Costello's Winfield Court property, and its impediment to the Runway 4 approach. Costello declined comment for this story when contacted by a reporter.
The Rhode Island Airport Corporation oversees the state's airport system. It's responsible for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the six state-owned airports.
Proposed runway threshold displacements are ultimately approved by the FAA, Goodman said. “RIAC is finalizing the design of an expected 499-foot runway threshold displacement. We anticipate the implementation to occur this spring.”
Although shortening Runway 4 will ensure compliance with that federal grant assurance, “trees surrounding Newport State Airport continue to grow,” Goodman said. “If left unaddressed, the obstructions can be expected to result in future runway displacements that could impact federal funding for easement acquisition and other federal investments, should the utility of Newport State Airport continue to be reduced.”
“At this time RIAC has no choice but to relocate runway thresholds, however we remain committed to restoring runway length as designed through all available avenues including encouraging Towns to meet State mandates to implement local overlay zoning, clarifying existing State legislation,” Goodman added. “As such, we consider the runway displacements to be temporary in nature.”
According to the Rhode Island Airport Corporation's presentation for its Jan. 12 meeting, the "Preservation of Safe Airspace" bill was introduced in 2020 to "clarify state law."
The bill — with versions introduced in the House and Senate — amends a state law pertaining to airports and landing fields to include "airspace" and the preservation of an aircraft's "approach."
The Senate bill says the "department of transportation may, with the approval of the governor, and subject to the provisions of chapter 6 of title 37, acquire, by purchase or condemnation, any land or any estate or interest in land, including airspace within this state that it may deem necessary for a suitable airport, or landing field, or to preserve or maintain approach."
The bill didn't become law in 2020. A co-sponsor of the bill, Sen. Lou DiPalma, D- Middletown, said Sunday he wasn't sure if it would be reintroduced in 2021.
In a press release after the Jan. 12 Rhode Island Airport Corporation meeting, Matt Sheley, public affairs officer for Middletown, cited concerns with the runway threshold displacement by "several airport users," who said the change would impact pilots, particularly those of larger planes.
According to the release, at the Jan. 12 meeting, Dan Porter, the vice president of planning with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, said the quasi-state agency conversed with one of the charter companies that flies larger planes into the airport, and 2,500 feet was the shortest the runway could be or the company would have to go elsewhere.
Runway 4 will be approximately 2,500 feet after the runway threshold displacement.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: There's a problem growing outside Newport State Airport that could lead to a runway being shortened
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