A sharply divided citizen panel Monday said Gwinnett County should reject a private company’s plans to launch commercial passenger service at Briscoe Field.
The Airport Privatization Citizen Review Committee voted 6-0, with five members abstaining, to recommend keeping the Lawrenceville airport as-is -- a general aviation facility serving corporate jets and other small aircraft.
The county Board of Commissioners will have the final say on whether to accept New York-based Propeller Investments’ plan to launch passenger flights to New York, Chicago and other cities -- a proposal that has divided Gwinnett for more than two years.
Monday’s vote took some committee members and the public by surprise. The committee’s report isn’t due until May 8, and the abstaining members said they hadn’t had time to read a draft report circulated earlier in the day by other members.
“For such an important recommendation and decision, I think it’s almost insulting,” said committee member Paula Hastings.
Lawrenceville City Councilman Tony Powell, a committee member who voted with the majority, suggested the committee could take as many hours as it liked to review the report. When minority members said they needed time to digest the draft, Powell said abstaining members were free to submit minority opinions.
Monday’s vote was the latest twist in a debate that has raged since Gwinnett County announced it was considering selling or leasing Briscoe Field in 2009.
County officials have never endorsed commercial passenger service at the airport, but Propeller Investments' proposal has dominated the debate.
Proponents say commercial flights would boost Gwinnett’s economy and provide an alternative to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Opponents in surrounding neighborhoods fear noise and safety concerns could lower their property values and say Gwinnett could suffer financially if the private venture failed.
On Monday, a majority of citizen committee members cited the opinion of two experts that cast doubt on the viability of commercial passenger flights at Briscoe Field.
When asked by the committee whether airlines would be attracted to a new airport that had never had scheduled passenger flights, Kinton Aviation Consulting said it was “highly unlikely.” A second consultant, Boyd Group International, said the chances were “really zero” in the Atlanta area.
Committee member Woody Woodruff said it was less the content of the report than his lack of time to read it that led him to abstain.
“I may agree with every darn thing in here,” he said. “But I don’t know. I haven’t read it.”
Member Jim Regan, an opponent of commercial flights, said the draft was circulated Monday morning, and he read it at work. He called the objections “unfounded.”
Brett Smith, managing director of Propeller Investments, said, “If the committee wants its work and report to be taken seriously by the elected officials and the citizens of Gwinnett County, it should at least allow for serious deliberation and analysis by its members.”
Monday’s vote was the second time in four months that some citizen committee members accused others of engineering a last-minute vote. In December, a majority of the committee recommended that Gwinnett either continue to operate Briscoe Field as-is or, if the airport is privatized, to allow commercial flights.
The committee voted in December to disband, but county commissioners reorganized the group and asked it to keep working. On Monday, the group also voted to disband.
County commissioners created the committee last fall to advise them on the future of the airport. Gwinnett’s purchasing staff is reviewing Propeller’s proposal and has not made its recommendation.
About the Author
