Folks in College Park and Atlanta have been busy behind the scenes, even as the federal government weighs changes at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport that could affect both cities.
The goal is to get College Park, home to the world's busiest airport, and Atlanta, which owns the facility, to find common ground.
"It really hasn't been one of the better working relationships, unfortunately," said Eunique Jarmon, College Park's new director of airport affairs. "We have to build trust and relationships. So far, that is going pretty well."
The small southern Fulton County city has complained for decades that its larger neighbor disregards the airport's negative effects, such as noise and taking up more than a third of College Park property.
The city hired Jarmon this spring as its first full-time worker focusing on the airport, after the airport proposed two changes to its operations.
One allows extending a runway to handle heavier —- and louder —- international planes to take off and land near a College Park neighborhood. The plan also calls for changing flight plans that would send more than five times the current flights over College Park.
The Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing the proposals, with a decision possible this summer.
Not surprisingly, College Park objects to the changes. Still, officials there say they are open to working with the airport on the proposals but insist the airport must first consider selling back some of the swaths of land it owns in the city.
Specifically, Mayor Jack Longino said negotiations are heating up for the airport to sell the 42-acre vacant area that had been the Lottie Miller apartment complex. Atlanta agreed last July to sell the property —- which College Park hopes to develop into a commercial strip or mixed-use area —- though no deal has been reached.
"There is no doubt the airport is the engine that drives College Park," Longino said. "But for College Park to continue to run, we need to get properties back on the tax rolls."
An airport official confirmed that negotiations and meetings are ongoing, but would not provide details.
Spokesman John Kennedy did say that the airport has no plans to buy additional land in College Park. If the flight paths are changed, the noise increase would support only additional insulation of homes, not their purchase, he said.
Still, officials are "looking forward" to having a point person in Jarmon, who has an undergraduate degree in aviation management and a master's degree in aeronautical science, as well as a student pilot certificate.
"Certainly having one person in a role such as this would make it more practical going forward," Kennedy said. "Our meetings are well under way."
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