How to resolve AdBlock issue? BALLSTON SPA — A public hearing regarding Saratoga County Airport’s Master Plan was held on Feb. 20. On the same day, it was announced by Governor Cuomo that $23 Million in state funding will be awarded to airports statewide for modernization, operational improvements and safety enhancement projects.
Saratoga County Airport, located at 405 Greenfield Ave. in Ballston Spa, was awarded $719,000 to construct a new snow removal equipment storage facility at the airport, according to a press release by the state. Airport projects throughout the state are funded through the Governor’s State Aviation Capital Grant Program initiative and complement the Governor’s Upstate Airport Economic Development and Revitalization Competition, which provided $200 million to modernize airports across Upstate.
$1.4 million went to Albany International Airport to construct a photovoltaic solar array, while $1 million was awarded to Schenectady County Airport to
construct a new aircraft hangar. Proposed changes in the Master Plan that were discussed at the public hearing include taxiway improvements, glider operations improvements, wildlife hazard management improvements, proposed acquisition of land and navigation easements, and vegetation obstruction removal affecting runways, according to public documents. Potentially affected resources include habitat for the federally listed endangered species, the Karner Blue butterfly. However, Matthew Veitch, Supervisor for the city of Saratoga Springs and Chairman of the Buildings and Grounds Committee says that the butterfly habitat will be exchanged with a larger parcel of County-owned land in Wilton adjacent to an existing butterfly habitat to make up for the loss.
The plan was adopted in 2014 and is not due for another update until 2024 according to Veitch.
A Facebook group called Stop the Saratoga County Airport Expansion was created in 2014 and has remained an active proponent in the airport’s master plan. According to Facebook, the mission reads: “We are uniformly opposed to any expansion of the runways at the Saratoga County Airport and this includes the “no build” option. We vote no to all proposals.”
However, Veitch says that no runway extensions or expansions are included in this proposal.
Veitch says that input at the public hearing was extensive. “While I did not speak publicly on the various aspects of the master plan, my job as Chairman of the Buildings and Grounds Committee was to listen to the concerns of residents, just to be aware of how they felt about the proposals. I appreciate the public’s input on the projects, and their comments will be taken into consideration as the projects progress, and with any future discussions the County may have regarding the Airport,” he said in email correspondence.
A member from the Stop the Saratoga County Airport Expansion commented “The proposed 77 acres of mowing around the runway perimeters will require taking (killing) 77 acres of the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly and their known habitat. This proposed action in effect has been stated to the public and throughout the MPPP-EA as a need for greater safety that would increase visibility to animals (deer, coyote, etc.) that might be hidingin the grass. Any safety concerns could be resolved by rebuilding/ repairing the fence as proposed in the MPPP-EA. As the fence stands today, the large holes and lack of height could allow both smaller animals to crawl under and deer to jump over and onto the airport property. Given the severity and great risk imposed on the endangered Karner Blue, and the fact an alternative
option to repair the fence has been given by the consulting firm McFarland Johnson, we are respectfully asking the SEQR Full Environmental Assessment Form associated with the current MPPP-EA is given a negative declaration, and the proposed mowing plan that will take (kill) 77 acres of surviving Karner Blue and their known habitat is removed from the MPPP-EA.”
