EDITOR:
I am a pilot and an airport businessman who is against the proposed new airport ordinance. My concern is for my friends and neighbors in Douglas County because our county is not providing a complete and honest picture on the airport. Fear-mongering tactics have been employed to claim we desperately need FAA funding and must go to any lengths to retain that funding or taxpayers will foot the bill. This is false.
Our airport has served local needs since WWII and does not need an endless stream of costly "upgrades" that then need costly maintenance. That is, unless we want to attract a bunch of outside jets that would disrupt our traditional, healthy mix of all types of general aviation, with a special emphasis on sports aviation and gliders. Gliders won't mix with a large jet presence.
It has been claimed that we must spend millions to move soaring to the vacant east side for safety and to allow soaring to become a "World Class Facility." There is no bad safety record requiring soaring operations to be banished to the east side, and there is no credible funding to construct any sort of major soaring facility on the east side. These arguments are bogus.
We don't need millions spent on new infrastructure, but we do need a new ordinance that will ensure the retention of our aviation heritage. The proposed ordinance includes ineffective, superficial controls and would promote massive unnecessary taxpayer spending. I urge voters to send the county back to the drawing board and listen harder to what they are being told by residents. An inexpensive compromise solution can be worked out that will satisfy the FAA, protect our aviation heritage, and avoid opening the door to unwanted jets that would scare away our traditional aviators.
Tony Sabino
Soar Minden owner
