33°Lively discussion expected at Tuesday's airport meeting
Sep 03
2010
Tuesday's Huron County Airport Authority meeting is shaping up to be a dandy.
The airport has been the subject of much discussion this summer.
Much of the talk has centered around whether the airport is truly an economic development tool and how the airport can sustain itself financially.
The meeting is set for 4 p.m.
County Commissioners Larry Silcox and Gary Bauer indicated Friday they will be in attendance Tuesday.
"I'm going to try to get to the meeting," Silcox said. "I want to see and hear how things are going out there. There are some tough decision that have to be made regarding the airport. We have to proceed in a way that is best for the county in the long term."
Silcox said the beginnings of the airport date back to about 1966 when the state thought that every county should have an airport for an economic development tool.
"Looking back over history, I don't believe it has helped local economic development to any major degree," he said. "Maybe, to a minor degree."
Airport Authority Chairman Dennis Sokol said at last month's meeting if the county would only allow a 5 percent match, hundreds of thousands of dollars could be made available for airport use.
Would the commissioners approve such a match?
"They haven't officially asked for it," Silcox said.
The commissioners basically call the shots at the airport because they own the land, the majority of the hangars and appoint the airport board members.
Bauer added to Silcox's remarks late Friday.
"For the airport to be and economic development tool, people have to be using it who are running a business or industry and they are not," Bauer said.
Bauer said the Willard airport is actually used by local industry.
"They are flying in and out of there (Willard) with cargo and so on," he said. "That doesn't happen out here."
Bauer's not sure about the idea of selling the airport.
"Selling the airport would be a very challenging thing to do," he said.
Bauer said a number has been tossed around -- $460,000 -- which is supposed to be the annual economic impact of the airport.
"I would question that," he said.
Bauer said places like New Horizons, MTD, Pepperidge Farms and RR Donnelley offer real economic impact.
"We have a variety of people taking a look at this," he said.
Bauer, who has been commissioner for 5 1/2 years, said he's out to the airport at least once a month.
Bauer said he has a hard time believing that 10,000 planes per year or 27 per day, land at the airport as reports have stated.
"In my 5 1/2 years out there, I've seen five planes and one helicopter land," he said.
Terry Boose, 58th House District representative, is familiar with the airport saga. He served as a Huron County commissioner from 1997 to 2004.
"When I was a commissioner, we were always told about the large number of flights out there, but they always had trouble producing documents that showed it," he said. "I believe for the most part, it is not used for economic development.
"Looking back, the airport board always said the airport brought in millions of dollars to the county," Boose said. "I didn't believe it at the time and I could never see the proof of economic development there."
Boose did mention he'd heard Summit Motorsports Park might be interested in the airport.
"You could compare that economic development versus the economic development of having the airport," he said. "But it's up to the county commissioners. They are smart people, I'm sure they'll take everything into consideration."
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11:06 AM
Windy says
We need to keep the Norwalk Airport open in order to attract new businesses to the area. Executives from the old Norwalk Furniture and Tenneco used to fly to the airport to visit their companies. Occasionally companies would fly supplies into the Norwalk Airport. Of course there aren't as many planes flying there now - there are no major businesses left in the Norwalk area. Through the years the airport has also housed several small companies such as AirNet and BioGas. Without an airport, this area will not be as attractive to new companies considering moving to Norwalk. When companies move into the area, we get jobs! Besides, the Norwalk Airport has taken federal money and cannot be closed at the whim of a group of greedy politicians . . . lest we forget Meigs Field in Chicago.11:59 AM
letmepicyou says
I still say we can use the land has a co-op farm ran by local citizens, and the airport can still sit there and be what it is, an airport. There is a lot of wasted space there, we could grow enough fresh vegetables there to feed a third of Norwalk I'd bet. Maybe more.08:56 AM
AlterEgo says
letmepicyou....Shut up you idiot. You know absolutely nothing about farming. Growing food "organically" yeilds much less volume and is usually lower quality produce. That's right. Less and lower quality, and generally the food is not as safe. It is because of fertilizers and pesticides that more food is grown and diseases and unwanted critters are prevented from destroying crops. It also may surprise you to know that most of the land out there, that is farmable, is not owned by Huron County. And the land that is owned and farmable is leased to a local farmer who is currently producing crops. But consider this, growing at production rates of 175 bushells of corn per acre and a price of $5.21 that only comes out to $911.75 of income per acre per year and we haven't even began to factor in the costs to produce that kind of volume...so again..sit down and shut up about the things which you have no clue talking about.07:42 PM
letmepicyou says
Ok moron. Lets take this one step at a time. Ready? Your statement: Growing food "organically" yeilds much less volume and is usually lower quality produce. My reply: Of course it's lower volume, thats widely known. Lower quality, the recent study on strawberries alone should shoot that in the foot. If you'd like a link, I'll be GLEEFUL to post it to see how far your foot goes into your mouth. I'll also add this. ORGANIC SELLS FOR A HIGHER PRICE. Ever been grocery shopping IDIOT? HUH, IDIOT? You can sell anything with the word "Organic" on it for about 50% more than the cost of a non-organically grown item. So while the lower volume exists, a higher return also exists. Not to mention there are other non-pesticide based possibilities, such as ladybugs and spiders, not to mention pesticides that aren't harmful to humans (pyrethreum? Ever hear of it? Oh yeah you're a farming expert, of course you have...) Also your statement: But consider this, growing at production rates of 175 bushells of corn per acre and a price of $5.21 that only comes out to $911.75 of income per acre per year Well duh, if we sell it at on the open market to a distributor or grain silo. But sold locally? You can get $3.00 a DOZEN, not your idiotic $5.21 a bushel price sold on the open market. A bushel is what, 56 pounds? How many pounds does the average dozen ears weigh? 10? That means $15.00 a bushel EASILY. Probably more. Not to mention higher value crops such as strawberries, you could do fruit trees, the list goes on. Personally, if there is a local farmer who's currently farming the land, that only seems to add weight to my idea, not detract from it. If you want to make somebody look like an idiot, perhaps you shouldn't say "Hey, theres already somebody doing that, so that idea is STUPID." Just a suggestion.10:16 AM
AlterEgo says
Do you know that all of the sweet corn used for corn on the cob, or table corn gron in the entire county is only about 5% of the whole production of corn.Please post me a link that proves, with scientific data that organic food is higher quality.
Here is a link a Mayo Clinic article about organic food.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/organic-food/NU00255
As you can see from this article. Organic foods, spoil faster, have less-than-poerfect apearances, are smaller,often with odd shapes, varying colors, and smaller sizes. There are no nutritional benefits. Even as far as taste goes. In blind taste tests consumers where unable to detect the differences in organically grown foods. So other than fleecing the consumer and charging them higher prices for their stupidity there is no value to growing organic foods.
And be a good little boy and very the references at the end of the article which backs up the data in the article....
06:02 PM
letmepicyou says
I still say my original idea has promise. There is so much flat open land surrounding the airport that it could be turned into a local citizen co-op farm, where members would be responsible for x hours a month of labor in the fields (probably in the neighborhood of two), and in return could purchase vegetables they grew themselves at a greatly reduced rate, all produced organically and with an EXTREMELY low overhead. Profits could replenish the seed stock, and a small portion of said profits could be funneled into the airport fund itself. I would think a local co-op farm of that size could easily generate $500-$1000 a month (of course you'd need the actual amount of area available to work with to figure a closer amount) of income for the airport and/or city. And we'd have a locally produced self sustaining source of fresh food at low cost, which if you can find somebody that HURTS, please tell me. And the airport could continue to do what it does.09:02 AM
livelife says
This could be interesting?????09:01 AM
livelife says
And what days & Time????09:01 AM
livelife says
I would like to know that too, Where do the meetings take place????08:25 AM
retired says
Forgot to ask. Do these meetings take place at the airport?08:17 AM
retired says
Sounds like the discussion may be more lively than the actual activity at the airport.