CRITICAL CITIZEN ALERT!

     WE NEED YOUR HELP ONCE MORE NOW!

Here's what you can do immediately:  Please e-mail, fax, or call your Commissioners TODAY.  Ask them to support the TAXIWAY STRENGTH COMPROMISE on the proposed FAA pavement rehabilitation grant for PDK Airport.  Our DeKalb Commissioners need to hear from you before Tuesday (27th) that you support accepting the FAA Grant but that pavement rehabilitation should be limited to the long-standing weight limit capacity of 66,000 pounds.
 
The Commissioners can be reached by e-mail at:  galew@co.dekalb.ga.us; jayates@co.dekalb.ga.us; CLMITCHE@co.dekalb.ga.us; jbscott@co.dekalb.ga.us; louwalker@co.dekalb.ga.us; hankj@co.dekalb.ga.us; bellis@co.dekalb.ga.us

 

You also can FAX the Commission office at 404-371-7004 and ask to have your letter left for all seven Commissioners, or you can call 404-371-2886 and ask to speak to a particular commissioner:  Gale Walldorff, Judy Yates, Elaine Boyer, Jacqueline Scott, Lou Walker, Hank Johnson, or Burrell Ellis.

 

Further details:

 

WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED:

 

As a result of your outpouring of support and the concerns expressed by the DeKalb County Commissioners themselves, we won an important victory at the Commission meeting on August 13, 2002.   The County Administration withdrew from consideration a FAA grant proposal that would have stripped affected homeowners, forever, of certain core property and legal rights.

 

Also at that August 13, 2002, Commission meeting, the Commissioners voted to DEFER for two weeks an equally damaging measure that would have directly impacted at least 80,000 DeKalb County homeowners.  That measure proposes to completely rebuild and DRAMATICALLY EXPAND (not just “rehabilitate”) the weight-bearing capacity of some taxiways of PDK Airport.  This would make possible an approximate DOUBLING in the weight of the planes that could ROUTINELY use the airport.

 

With those dramatic increases in the weight bearing capacity of the airport pavement, airplanes weighing 105,000 lbs. (rather than the County’s long-standing 66,000 lb. limit), could ROUTINELY make 3,500 arrivals or departures a year from PDK, according to Airport Director Lee Remmel.  This weight increase would greatly increase the threat of noise, pollution, and regularly scheduled traffic from the Airport.

 

THIS EXPANSION PROPOSAL COMES BACK TO THE COMMISSION FOR A FINAL DECISION THIS COMING TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2002.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

 

1.  Please contact all the Commissioners as requested above.  Ask them to vote for the COMPROMISE taxiway rehabilitation proposal.  This COMPROMISE taxiway rehabilitation proposal would accept the FAA grant but would specify as a CONDITION for the County’s acceptance of that grant that the rehabilitation of the taxiways should be carried out to engineering specifications that limit the normal weight-bearing capacity of the taxiways to 66,000 lbs. (rather than the 105,000 level in the current proposal). 

 

This condition placed on the grant would allow the County to correct any potential safety and maintenance problems posed by the current aging taxiways.  The action would bring all taxiways up to a capacity accommodating 66,000 lb. planes but would not expand the weight bearing capacity of the airport in violation of long-standing County weight policy.

 

2.  Please forward this statement to all friends and neighbors, urging them to contact the Commissioners IMMEDIATELY.

 

3.  Please attend the Commission meeting Tuesday, August 27, at 9:00 a.m. at the Maloof Center at 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur, to show your support for this critical issue.

 

Sincerely yours,

Norma Herd

PDK Watch Coordinator