By Staff
Airport should stay where it is
Editor:
Regardless of how Richard Greenhill and Thomas Kay try to distort the facts, facts are still facts – the airport was there first.
Perhaps Tanner Heights was well developed when the airport was started – but was it fully built out and how many additions have there been? Planning for Hickory Heights may have started before the airport was completed – but the airport was already started; therefore, knowing this, why was time and money spent? I didn't know competitive revenue was an issue but, if it is, it's a given that one little airport can't compete with the real estate taxes from all the homes in that area (even at Hartselle's exceptionally low tax rate); however, perhaps a larger airport can and that is the issue – more hangers means more revenue.
Bottom Line: How many currently complaining residents lived near the airport location before the airport was built – 10, 20 or perhaps none? Any resident who bought or built a house anywhere in that area after the airport was built has no basis for complaint. They knew, or should have known, they were locating near an airport; therefore, they can blame no one other than themselves (unless perhaps their realtor).
Rountree Field will never be a big airport. Economically and logistically there is no basis for such growth because there are too many more suitably competitive areas. Airport relocation – for whom and by whom?
James L. Nix
Hartselle