County officials want to expand rural airport’s runway for
corporate jet use
Morgan Hill – An upcoming environmental analysis will determine if and when Santa Clara County can expand its South Martin airport to accommodate corporate jet traffic.
“The true test is the environmental impact statement,” said Andy Richards, manager of the San Francisco Airport’s District of the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Is it a good aviation prospect? Yes. Is it the right aviation prospect? I don’t know yet.”
Richards was speaking at a meeting of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance. About 75 South County residents packed the Lions Club Hall to voice their opposition to the expansion. Residents think allowing corporate traffic will alter the character of South County and that expansion plans drive down the value of property near the airport because the land is subject to increased development restrictions. They are upset that the county’s roads and airports department wants to use South County to meet the aviation needs of Silicon Valley.
“We want San Martin to remain a rural community,” said Monica Winders, who leads the neighborhood alliance team working on the airport project. “It doesn’t meet community needs. It doesn’t benefit local citizens. That’s really where our heartbreak is.”
County officials have eyed expansion of San Martin airport since 2001. Their plan extends the airport’s 3,100-foot runway to accommodate small and medium corporate jets used by commercial businesses. Runway width also will expand, from 75 to 100 feet. A two-story, 12,000-square-foot terminal building will be constructed, as well as a new maintenance building and two water storage tanks.
Carl Honaker, director of county airports, said the expansion is critical because facilities in Palo Alto and San Jose have reached their capacity for small commercial traffic. He said that the development of Coyote Valley and steady growth in Gilroy and Morgan Hill also will drive up demand for the airport.
“Whether the growth is from down here or through migration [from North County], we don’t know yet,” Honaker said. “I don’t have the luxury of looking at it as the manager of this airport. I need to do what’s best from the perspective of the entire county. This is the only place we have to put anybody.”
But the county can not expand the airport unless its plans are approved and funded by the FAA. All improvements at county airports must be paid for with money generated by rental fees and fuel sales or through federal grants. Last year, the county petitioned the FAA to pay for the needed environmental review. That study has not yet been selected for funding, though it likely will be by next year.
The key question is how extensive that review will be. Richards said he didn’t know if the county would be required to meet the relatively lower threshold of an environmental assessment, or if the FAA will order an environmental impact statement, which would place more obstacles in the way of expansion plans. The environmental review process, he said, is the best opportunity for residents to fight expansion, though the project is likely to advance if the FAA decides it’s necessary.
“For the success of airports, you have to have a balance of community and aviation support,” Richards said. “I don’t say we’re necessarily going to achieve consensus, but we are going to have a plan that is best for the community as a whole.”
Depending on the level of environmental review required, it could be several years before any changes are made at the airport. Even with approval, the need to acquire land near the airport and special easements to allow flights near homes, is likely to drag on. Some residents threatened to sue over any attempt to take land, though they appeared somewhat heartened by Rchards’s comments.
“They seem to have a purse string and the county seems to be concerned about that,” said San Martin resident and attorney Charles Logan. “That’s exciting to us because that means there’s someone they might listen to.”
The county’s plan aims to have the project complete by 2022, when the airport is projected to house more than three times the 125 planes stored there.
Matt King covers Morgan Hill and Santa Clara County for The Times. Reach him at 779-4106 ext. 201 or mk***@*************es.com.
