County takes action should airport plans become reality     

Thursday, 01 February 2007 

By JIM DINO

Standard-Speaker

WILKES-BARRE – Even though the land for a cargo airport along Route 924 west of Humboldt Industrial Park has not been defined, Luzerne County has taken a step in the event the airport becomes a reality.

Wednesday morning, the Luzerne County commissioners voted to advertise notice of a public hearing to establish a municipal authority “to the undertaking of an economic development project involving the planning, design, leasing acquisition, construction and equipping of an intermodal, air, rail and transportation facility.”

Commissioner Greg Skrepenak defined the commissioners’ move.

“This is just to advertise, not create, the authority,” Skrepenak said, just hours ahead of a public announcement in Hazleton about a proposed cargo airport, which has been a topic of discussion for a decade and the subject of a study completed almost three years ago.

Skrepenak said additional action will be taken at the March commissioners meeting at Hazleton City Hall.

Commissioner Steve Urban asked that notice be sent to neighboring counties, which would not only be affected by the presence of the airport but could also potentially benefit from it.

“We should send notice to Schuylkill and Carbon counties,” Urban said. “They were part of the consultants’ study. They should be part of it.”

But Commissioner Todd Vonderheid said a flaw in state law does not allow authorities to cross municipal or county boundaries.

“The law under which authorities are formed is called the Intergovernmental Cooperation Law,” Vonderheid said. “It does not provide in its definition for authorities to cooperate. It is a clear flaw in the law our legislators are working on.”

The existence the joint board that runs the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport – the same arrangement with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees and Lackawanna County Stadium – is a joint board, not an authority, Vonderheid pointed out.

One of the recommendations of the study was “the development of a multi-lateral aviation authority and the coordination and validation of user interest.”

The study went on, “In order for an airport to be eligible for public funding, it must be sponsored by a grant-eligible public agency. Development of a multi-lateral authority would help direct future decisions related to the development of the proposed airport, and would be responsible for the decision making and conducting of all planning and design efforts.”

The study said the airport would have to be over 7,800 acres. According to plans for the site – which hovers over the Luzerne County-Schuylkill County border – 2,500 of the 4,200 acres that currently make up Paragon Adventure Park are needed. Paragon is an off-road vehicle park.

The landowner, PCA Corp., has filed court papers alleging Paragon has violated its lease – because PCA and a partner, Gladstone Partners LLC – wants to buy 2,500 acres of the land – at $9,000 an acre, or $22.5 million – presumably for part of the airport.

Lycoming County Senior Judge Clinton Smith heard arguments Wednesday afternoon from both sides in the case, and rendered a decision soon.

The New York-Philadelphia airspace is congested, and when a plane has to land, passenger planes get first priority – leaving cargo planes literally up in the air.

The new airport, if it becomes reality, would provide an alternative. And its proximity to the interstate highway system would also make the facility attractive.

Expected airport revenue would come from a mix of user rates, fees and other charges to support the cost of the airport.