Mayors make noise about airport

Jerry Beverland and Pam Corbino say expansion of St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport ignores neighbors' concerns.

EAST LAKE - If there's one thing the mayors of Safety Harbor and Oldsmar agree on, it's that the expansion of the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport will affect the quality of life in their cities.

Already, they say several times a week they hear jets flying above their homes as early as 4:15 a.m.

And if the proposed $16.7-million airport expansion goes as planned, both Jerry Beverland and Pam Corbino say the increased airline traffic would generate more noise.

"We know airplanes are a fact of life," Corbino said. "But we do look at the impact of the planes over our head."

Maybe so, but County Commissioner Susan Latvala said the two mayors seem to be complaining more about the noise than the general public. Corbino is using the issue as a platform because she plans to run for the commission, she said.

"I know lots of people out there," Latvala said. "I have never had anyone mention (the noise problem) to me. It's not at the top of my list."

Latvala said the commission is trying to be sensitive to residents who are complaining about jet noise. But she said those concerns must be balanced with the economic development of the airport.

"We have to make the airport profitable and make it sustain itself," Latvala said. "In order to do that, you have to have planes coming in and out and sometimes they do make noise."

The issue of expanding the airport's runway and the intergovernmental tensions it creates surfaced again last week after Beverland and Corbino spoke to a meeting of the civic group East Lake 20/20.

According to a recent survey, about 66 percent of East Lake residents are opposed to a plan to "expand the St. Petersburg-Clearwater airport facilities involving an expenditure of $37-million in order to expand a north/south runway to accommodate additional airline traffic."

In recent months, airport officials have said the runway expansion would cost $16.7-million. An airport consultant has recommended rebuilding the terminal in three phases during the next 17 years at a total cost of $36.8-million.

Construction on the extension could begin in late 2004 and is part of an effort to enhance services at the Pinellas County-owned airport on Old Tampa Bay.

"They're doing everything they can to make the airport more money," Corbino said of the expansion. "Our concern is they're going to take flights any time because they need to make more money."

Last year, the Pinellas County Commission approved a marketing contract with ATA, which added 17 flights to the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

ATA started offering flights this year to Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Many of those fly over North Pinellas in the early morning hours, Corbino said.

And they fly low, Beverland said.

"I can see the numbers on the bottom," he said. "They come in right over my house. At night, my house will rattle and the airplane hasn't even taken off."

Airport officials have said the goal of the expansion is to attract more nonstop flights from Europe. A longer runway is needed to accommodate planes carrying enough fuel to cross the Atlantic. Airport officials propose extending the main runway by 10,000 feet.

Earlier this year, County Administrator Steve Spratt appointed a 17-member Aircraft Noise Abatement Task Force to address concerns about the expansion.

So far, though, that task force has had only one meeting, on Feb. 26. And that was more of a presentation of current noise abatement efforts, said John Padavich, who represents Safety Harbor on the task force.

Padavich had proposed restricting the hours of operation at the airport between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. But both UPS and ATA officials said that wasn't possible. He also recommended realigning one of the runways so the airplanes aren't flying directly over Safety Harbor. That plan wasn't workable either, he said.

"It's very frustrating," Padavich said after the East Lake 20/20 meeting. "I think things are going to get worse rather than better. Up until now, no one has had any good solutions to the citizens' concerns and complaints. That bothers everyone."

David Metz, the airport's executive director and a member of the task force, said the discussion on how to reduce the noise is an ongoing process. He said the first meeting was more of an introduction to bring the task force up to speed on the procedures and operations of the airport. The next meeting is scheduled for May 28.

"We wanted to get the process off on good footing," Metz said. "I think in order to do that we spent a good time of the first meeting doing an overview. At the next meeting, there'll certainly be plenty of opportunity to have discussion."

Corbino suggested the task force was just a ploy created by the County Commission. Beverland told East Lake residents the County Commission is going to do "whatever they want whether you like it or not."

"I suggest next time the County Commission runs for office, vote them out," said Beverland, who unsuccessfully challenged Latvala for her commission seat in 2000.

Corbino said another concern is that if Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg closes, that facility's current air traffic may choose to use St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport instead.

City officials and developers have proposed shrinking the St. Petersburg airport's two runways to one and selling the extra land for development.

"Where is that traffic going to go?" Corbino asked. "The more money they can put in (St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport), the more money they can make."

Don Flynn, chairman of East Lake 20/20, said he will encourage residents to contact their commissioners. He also proposed forming some type of a committee.

East Lake resident Muriel Murphy said she hadn't even heard about the expansion. She was at the meeting because her daughter, Whitney, a junior at East Lake High School, received the group's student of the month recognition.

"I really think if more people called their commissioners, maybe they'd get some results," she said. "If two mayors are concerned about it, I feel like this area would be affected too."

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