Maricopans get preview of airport proposal for city

Even though the topic of a local airport may bring color to the cheeks of many a local resident, many of whom feel the city’s priorities are out of whack, it was hard – if not impossible – to find anyone Thursday who lacked enthusiasm or at least a genuine interest in the latest development in Maricopa’s plans to identify a site for an airport and begin developing it.

The city sponsored an open house Thursday night at the Global Water Center to update the public on the latest feasibility study submitted by Coffman Associates, a national airport consulting firm.

The city’s quest for an airport began in 2004, shortly after it was incorporated, and was officially announced in October 2005, when it retained the services of airport consultant Ed Beauvais, a founder of Phoenix-based America West Airlines (which later merged with US Airways).

Thursday night’s crowd – which wandered through a static exhibit consisting mainly of 18 large posters, containing color graphics, maps, photos and text, placed on easels in a semi-circular pattern – numbered from 10 to as many as 40 people at a time. There were curious residents, a few hopeful landowners, people whose livelihoods are tied to air transportation, a few media representatives and city officials.

Beauvais acted as official greeter, asking visitors to sign in before they inspected the charts.

Not far from the entrance of Global Water’s public room, where the exhibit was on display, was Ioanna Morfessis, the city’s economic development consultant, whose objectives parallel those of Beauvais.

The Coffman study, which is available online (see “City welcomes city manager, hosts forums on airport feasability, annexation and redevelopment district“), compares the pros and cons of 14 potential sites in and around the city, but focuses on three leading sites, one of which is Estrella Sailport, about six miles west of the intersection of State Route 347 and State Route 238 (Smith-Enke Road). Of the three top locations, Estrella is the only one not near existing or planned housing.

In the summer of 2006, before Coffman Associates entered the picture, city officials met with the State Land Department, which leases property to Estrella Sailport. Those talks ended when public pressure forced the city to scale down its plans to purchase all of a nearby tract of land – known as the Peed property – for a permanent city complex.

The city had also considered Phoenix Regional Airport, now owned by the Ak-Chin Community, which is off of Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway, about halfway between the two cities.

Beauvais explained that the Coffman study would soon be formally presented to City Council. “When the Council decides on which site it prefers, then we’ll go to the Federal Aviation Administration,” he said. After the FAA conducts its own study and other hurdles, such as environmental studies, are passed, the city could receive of up to 95 percent of the cost of developing an airport, Beauvais said.

With a population projected to hit 190,000 by 2020, experts feel that the time to move forward on an airport is now.

“Just look at those growth patterns,” said a retired Air Force pilot who plans to move to Maricopa. “That’s a lot of rooftops. What a great place for an air shuttle to Las Vegas!”

When Matt Stephens, who with his brother Jason operate Airzona Soaring, a glider operation at Estrella Sailport, was told some Maricopans feel a permanent library is more important than an airport, he responded:

“Libraries take money. Airports bring in money.”

Photos by Joe Giumette