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Runway Plan Threatens Davis Islands Residents

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By JIM MOORE

Published: January 17, 2008

Regarding the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority's planned runway extension at Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Islands:

Peter O. Knight Airport is historically significant. It is an anachronism. No modern city planner would consider situating an airport on Davis Islands, alongside some of the most densely populated land in Hillsborough County.

Why then should this land use, outlawed because of safety hazards and the public's exposure to excessive noise, be allowed to expand?

When the aviation authority held a public meeting last year to discuss these plans, it was stated that the noise increase, once the runway was extended and the revving aircraft engines moved 175 feet closer, would be negligible or possibly add only a few extra decibels to the neighborhood.

This notion was first contradicted by common sense and later by sound testing. Increased noise in some locations was measured at 15-20 decibels. A 10-decibel difference in sound is said to be heard as twice as loud.

I understand the existing runway length is an FAA safety issue for only a very few planes. Vandenberg Airport, located in a rural area 15 minutes from downtown, already has a 5,000-foot runway, and provides an alternative to the expansion expense and concomitant noise and safety issues at Peter O. Knight.

Regardless of how this project is presented, no one should believe the longer runway won't become home to more and larger aircraft. Reason tells us airport operations should be moving in the opposite direction, towards smaller aircraft and fewer flights.

Davis Islands have a great natural beauty that needs to be protected. To allow a small special-interest group to erode the quality of life for residents and for the thousands of visitors who come to Davis Islands to walk their dogs, bicycle, skate, and jog along the soon-to-be linear park, is short-sighted and not in the city's best interests.

James Moore is a Tampa resident.

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