Public Meeting on PDK Master Plan Policies, September 19, 2005

Approximately 350 citizens almost completely filled the Maloof Auditorium at 1300 Commerce Drive in Decatur at a public meeting on September 19, 2005, to find out about different PDK Airport Master Plan policy proposals and share their concerns about future policies and directions at PDK Airport for the next several decades.  The meeting had been called by CEO Vernon Jones, after talking with citizens who felt that Master plan policy input from the Master Plan consultants and from concerned citizens had not been properly considered at the PDK Airport Advisory Board meetings in April, May, and June 2005. Click here.

Four proposals that concerned citizens had drafted for the meeting called for: (1) PDK to continue to remain a CII general aviation airport rather  becoming a CIII commercial airport capable of handling much larger jets, (2) maintaining 1992 PDK Master Plan policy prohibition on expansion of the geographic size of the Airport, except under certainly carefully specified conditions, (3) developing mandatory and enforceable flight paths and plane height requirements to help mitigate noise impacts on the surrounding neighborhoods, and (4) maintaining the 66,000 lb. weight limit for aircraft using PDK Airport.  For more details on these citizen policy proposals, as well as the policy proposals presented by the PDK Master Plan consultants and by the Airport Advisory Board, see the Master Plan section of the PDK Watch web site.

Many concerned citizens and several pilots spoke at the meeting.  A comment sheet was collected at the end of the meeting so that all citizen input could be in writing and recorded.  The County Administration indicated that these comment sheets would be provided to the Commissioners and to PDK Watch.

Unfortunately, none of the seven DeKalb County Commissioners attended the September 19 public meeting.  The following morning at their own work session dealing with PDK Master Plan issues, the Commissioners focused not on the substantive policy issues that had been raised the night before, but on the question of whether and how to restore funds that the FAA had cut from the public participation part of the Master Plan proposal.  That public participation part of the original Master Plan proposal had called for spending nearly $500,000 (almost the cost of the substantive part of the Master Plan itself), but the Federal Aviation Administration had indicated that such a large expenditure was inappropriate for an airport that was not intending to expand substantially.

The community and the commissioners need to understand that the citizens did not participate in the initial planning stage when the scope of the Master Plan was drafted, the budget requirements for the plan prepared, or the scope, methodology, and cost of the proposed public participation part of the initial plan determined. 

--Larry Foster