Lake Elmo Airport expansion still drawing criticism

One opponent of a contested $11.5 million plan to expand the Lake Elmo Airport says the new St. Croix River bridge is helping his cause.

With the opening of the bridge in August, the drive time between the Lake Elmo Airport and the New Richmond, Wis., Regional Airport has decreased considerably, said Dave Schultz, a supervisor in West Lakeland Township just south of the airport.

“I drove it the other day during rush hour, going the speed limit. People were passing me. Even stopping at the stoplight at Osgood (Avenue), it only took 23 minutes,” he said. “They’re only 16 nautical miles apart.”

It took him 18 minutes to complete a rush-hour drive to Holman Field, the airport in downtown St. Paul, which is nine nautical miles away, he said.

“It doesn’t make sense to pile money into an airport halfway between these two other airports,” he said.

Schultz said he expects residents concerned about noise and intrusion will pack a Wednesday public hearing on an environmental review of the project.

But the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates the reliever airport, says improvements are needed to improve airport safety — for pilots and for nearby residents.

Under the plan, the airport’s 2,850-foot primary (northwest/southeast) runway would be relocated about 700 feet northeast and extended to 3,500 feet. The existing runway would become a taxiway.

The airport’s crosswind (northeast/southwest) runway would be extended to 2,750 feet from 2,500 feet and would be lit for nighttime flying.

In addition, the runway’s pavement and subsurface would be replaced.

“The pavement is at the end of its life,” said Pat Hogan, a spokesman for MAC. “We’re going to incur that expense whether we just tear up the runways and rebuild them where they are or extend them a little bit and move them a little bit to the north, which is what we’re looking at.”

Lake Elmo Airport opened in 1951 and is one of 83 reliever airports in Minnesota; their average runway length is 3,641 feet. Lake Elmo is one of the state’s busiest, but its 2,850-foot runway is the fifth-shortest.

If the runway is extended to 3,500 feet, it will still be smaller than the 5,000-foot runways at Holman Field, Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie and the Anoka County-Blaine Airport, Hogan said.

SAFER FOR PLANES, NEIGHBORS

A longer runway would be safer, especially during inclement weather, Hogan said. “Any pilot will tell you, the more pavement the better, from a safety standpoint,” he said.

It also would be more efficient, because pilots would be able to fly with heavier loads. Pilots often take off from Lake Elmo and fly to other airports to fill up with gas because “the runway simply isn’t long enough for them to take off with that kind of load,” he said. “It’s just not a very efficient way to operate airports.”

Also, the Federal Aviation Administration has been pushing for more enforcement of its runway-protection zones, which lie beyond runways and are supposed to be kept clear of structures, public roads and railroads, Hogan said.

The Lake Elmo airport’s protection zone for the north end of the existing primary runway falls over Manning Avenue and the Union Pacific Railroad and onto about 5 acres on the west side of Manning in Lake Elmo. “By moving the runway, we’ll be able to keep all of the (runway-protection) zones on airport property,” Hogan said.

Major changes are being proposed for 30th Street North to accommodate the new runway alignment. The MAC originally proposed realigning the road around the south end of the new runway on airport land but revised those plans so the street could connect back to the existing Neal Avenue intersection.

But the revised plan calls for a major curve in the road, which would decrease safety, Schultz said.

Hogan said the MAC believes 30th Street North can be designed and engineered to be safe.

MAC officials expect the airport, which has no control tower, to continue being used by mostly recreational, training and small-business planes. About 200 aircraft are based at the airport, and that number is expected to remain about the same.

USE FUNDS IN WISCONSIN INSTEAD?

Two Wisconsin lawmakers seem to agree with township supervisor Schulz. They would like the FAA to divert the $11.5 million from the Lake Elmo Airport to the New Richmond airport.

In a Feb. 12 letter to the FAA, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy said the funding “may become available due to staunch opposition from the community around Lake Elmo.”

The New Richmond airport “is already capable of many of the activities that MAC hopes Lake Elmo Airport would be able to do post-expansion,” they wrote.

But Hogan said the Lake Elmo Airport provides an important service for the metro area.

“It’s the only airport we have on the east side to serve those people,” he said. “These runways serve the businesses and the residents of the metropolitan area — it’s kind of what we are here to do.

“There are a lot of pilots who want to be close in to the city and don’t want to have to drive further out to some of the other airports outside the metropolitan area.”

IF YOU GO

What: Public hearing on an environmental review of the Lake Elmo Airport expansion plan
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday. Open house begins at 6 p.m. and a presentation at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Oak-Land Middle School, 820 N. Manning Ave., Lake Elmo
Also: Written comments on the environmental review will be accepted until 5 p.m. April 19. For more information, contact Dana Nelson at dana.nelson@mspmac.org or 612-725-6330.

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