Tampabay: City told to keep Whitted operating

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Federal Aviation Administration has told the city of St. Petersburg it cannot close Albert Whitted Municipal Airport for about 20 years. The city, which has been exploring other options for the waterfront property, obligated itself to keep the airport open until 2021 when it accepted a $516,276 grant for airport lighting last year, FAA officials said.

"Albert Whitted plays an important role in the air space system, and we don't support any effort to close the airport," said Kathleen Bergen, a spokesperson for the FAA. "The city is contractually bound under grant agreements to make it a public airport."

The city has considered closing the waterfront airport and building something else on its 110 acres, including a park and a new mixed-use, low-rise neighborhood. Airport supporters, however, have fought hard to show the airport is a vital community asset.

This is the first time the FAA has weighed in. The agency sent letters to city officials in April, telling the city it would have to show a benefit to civil aviation by closing the airport.

"Because of the important role Albert Whitted plays in the national airport system, the city may find it difficult to show any aviation benefit from the closure of the airport while it remains obligated," wrote Woodie Woodward, the FAA's associate administrator for airports, in an April 10 letter to the city.

In a separate letter last month, FAA regional administrator Carolyn Blum wrote Mayor Rick Baker: "Albert Whitted Airport is very important to the regional, state and national system of airports, with 165 based aircraft and a large amount of itinerant activity."

Albert Whitted has received $2.8-million in grants from the FAA since 1984. Before last year's grant, the city last accepted a $351,900 grant to renovate the pavement between the runway and the terminal in 1994. All of the grants obligate the city to keep the airport open 20 years after the grant is received.

The FAA's Bergen said that no other airport with a federal grant obligation has ever closed.

"The federal government means what it says," said Ruth Varn, chairperson of the Airport Advisory Committee. "It spells it out to the the mayor and city administration -- that Albert Whitted will remain open for the next 20 years. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing left to discuss."

Rick Mussett, city development administrator, said he did not think the FAA's strongly worded letters would put an end to the city's explorations.

"There are some folks that would like that," he said. Those people "would liken the letters to the so-called smoking gun. I don't think that's the case."

In a Monday letter to the FAA's Woodward, Mussett pointed out that the city is still in research mode and has not decided whether to close the facility.

"The city recognizes its responsibility to aviation," Mussett wrote. "We also realize the need to balance those responsibilities with safety issues and other factors that impact our community."

Though there is no organized effort to promote alternative uses at the airport, several residents active in the community have gathered recently to discuss whether they need to organize, said Tim Clemmons, a St. Petersburg architect who has drawn up some development options for the airport land.

Clemmons said he was not discouraged by the FAA letters.

"Sometimes you have to see if this is the No. 1 person on the FAA or some low-level bureaucrat who isn't that powerful," he said. "Or does the mayor just need to go talk to Jeb Bush? Those are the kinds of things that need to be looked at. If the city really decides it's in its best interest to (close the airport), does the FAA really have the ability to stop them? I'm not sure of that."

But Jack Tunstill, a flight instructor at Albert Whitted who obtained the FAA letters and posted them on the Web site of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said the city will find it hard to buck the federal government.

"You just don't take on the federal government and think that elephant's not going to remember," Tunstill said. "As the FAA said in its letter, you've got to show a benefit to aviation for the closure. What's the benefit to aviation for closing Albert Whitted and building condos? I'd like to see that in writing."

-- Staff writer Deborah O'Neil contributed to this story.

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