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Aviation Board OKs Hangars, Longer Runway At Knight

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By MARK HOLAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 8, 2008

Updated: 02/07/2008 11:33 pm

TAMPA - The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority's board voted 5-0 Thursday to approve a runway extension and hangar construction at Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Islands.

The project, which is expected to begin in September, will add 175 feet of pavement to the southwest end of the airport's main runway, near houses on Severn and Martinique avenues.

After two hours of debate, Mayor Pam Iorio seconded the motion to approve the project, which has been on hold for months as the authority met with the Davis Islands Civic Association.

"No city takes a quality asset and moves it backward," she said.

Iorio and other board members said they were satisfied that authority staff reached out to the community and made several compromises to allay concerns.

Authority officials say the extra pavement is needed to meet federal requirements for a 240-foot safety zone at each end of the runway and therefore isn't an extension of the 3,405-foot-long landing and takeoff strip. The work will cost $1.8 million.

Opponents suggested creating the safety zone within the existing pavement, which would mean reducing the stretch available for arrivals and departures.

"We do not want to shorten the runway," said Louis Miller, the authority's executive director. "We do not want to reduce the capability of this airport."

The authority wanted to create the safety zone by extending the northeast end of the runway into Seddon Channel, but the idea was nixed by the Army Corps of Engineers and Tampa Port Authority. Miller said the authority is keeping its promise not to extend the shorter 2,688-foot runway along the channel.

Almost two dozen residents spoke at the board hearing, with about half opposed to the project.

"If approved, this would forever damage the landscape of this peaceful neighborhood," said Warren Cohen, who lives on Martinique near the planned extension.

He said "real world" noise effects would be greater than those predicted by sound tests conducted in the fall by the authority.

About 200 residents signed petitions opposing the plans, citing concerns about noise and safety.

In June 2006, a plane skidded off the airport's shorter runway, killing the pilot and crashing into a home on East Davis Boulevard, at the opposite end of the property from the extension.

The airport does not have a control tower; pilots are required to look out for one another and communicate on a common radio frequency.

Project opponents also said new hangars along Seddon Channel would block water views.

Other residents, many of them pilots who keep planes at Peter O. Knight, said their neighbors were making much ado about nothing.

"I don't see what the big deal is," resident Holly Thomas said.

Several residents criticized the civic association as being "self-serving" and having "personal agendas" in opposing the project.

After the vote, association President Lisa DeVitto said she was disappointed by some of the "ugly comments" directed at the group.

"I think we all need to come together rather than being mad at each other," she said.

DeVitto asked some of the pilots to help her form an association committee to deal with noise and other airport issues.

Opened in 1935 as the city's commercial airport, Peter O. Knight is one of the authority's three general aviation airports for small planes and jets. It totals about 50,000 takeoffs and landings a year.

About 125 single- and twin-engine planes are kept at the airport, and 116 people are on a list for the new hangars, which will be built over three years on 24 acres along the channel. Site preparation and design will cost $2.8 million.

The authority has agreed to prohibit "touch-and-go" landing and takeoff practice from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. to reduce noise. It also will require pilots to conduct preflight engine revving tests from the same spot rather than closer to houses.

In addition, the authority says it will add landscaping to soften the look of the new hangars.

Reporter Mark Holan can be reached at mholan@tampatrib.com or (813) 835-2101.

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