Runway work moves forward

The county closes a deal for the third of four tracts for the runway extension at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

Pinellas County has reached a $3-million deal to buy the biggest piece of land in its plan to extend the runway at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

Now the county has only one parcel yet to buy for its $16.7-million plan to extend the airport runway and buy needed surrounding lands, said David Metz, airport director.

The newest purchase, a 4-acre tract, is home to the administrative offices of Neighborly Senior Services.

That agency will move later this year.

The agency provides Meals on Wheels, adult day care and other services.

The group will rent a building about a mile away and later build a facility on other land recently purchased, said Debra Shade, president and chief executive.

The county paid Senior Services $2.8-million for the property, said Gerald Meaders, the county lawyer handling the case.

The agency received the check Monday. The county also paid close to $200,000 in Neighborly Senior Services' legal fees.

The airport is buying the Neighborly Senior Services land, located on Stoneybrook Drive just south of the airport, so navigation equipment can be located there, Metz said.

"It basically provides the pilots with more precision," especially for landings in bad weather, Metz said. "This is long overdue."

The Federal Aviation Administration is paying for 90 percent of the purchase. The state is paying 5 percent, leaving 5 percent to come from the airport.

Airport officials already bought two pieces of land next to the Airco Golf Course but haven't yet bought a warehouse on Ulmerton Road.

That piece of land, valued at $750,000, is owned by the family of the airport real estate manager. He and county officials say he won't be involved in negotiations.

Airport officials hope to start building the extension in late 2005. Metz isn't sure when the navigation equipment would be put on Neighborly Senior Services land because that might be affected by the runway plan.

"This is an important step in the (runway extension) project," said Steve Spratt, county administrator. "There is an alternate location (for Senior Services) nearby. It appears to be mutually beneficial all the way around."

Airport officials want to extend the runway to 10,000 feet to attract nonstop international flights. Some residents in Safety Harbor and Oldsmar oppose the extension, saying more air traffic would mean noisy planes overhead.

The plan would extend the runway 300 feet on the north and 900 feet on the south.

The county is buying land not for the runway extension itself but as a site for navigation equipment and to create vacant safety areas at each end of the runway. Neighborly Senior Services has until July 1 to get off the land.

The group will start the move to the new building at 12425 28th St. N. in June. The phone number, (727) 573-9444, will remain the same.

Neighborly Senior Services has spent $700,000 to rent the 28th Street building for three years and renovate it. It also spent $1.1-million to buy land for its future site off Ulmerton Road near U.S. 19.

County appraisers valued the Stoneybrook site at $2.2-million, Meaders said.

Neighborly Senior Services originally wanted $4-million.

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