Citizens for a Better Gwinnett (www.better gwinnett.org) opposes Briscoe Field expansion due to the negative impact it will have on residents’ and taxpayers’ quality of life.
Quality of life encompasses many issues — noise, home values, air pollution, traffic congestion and taxpayer burden. We base our position on facts supported by independent studies of communities impacted by scheduled passenger aviation over the past 30 years.
Some residents think Briscoe expansion is just a Lawrenceville issue. They fail to consider that a 737 passenger jet on approach to or departing from Briscoe will fly over many cities (Dacula, Auburn, Lilburn, Stone Mountain, Duluth, Johns Creek, Braselton).
On takeoff, a 737 creates a noise cone almost a mile wide and generates 92 decibels. Ground-level noise stays above 75 decibels until the aircraft reaches 20,000 feet. At a plane’s standard rate of climb, the noise cone extends approximately five miles beyond the runway. The FAA states that noise above 65 decibels renders a home uninhabitable.
Because 68,000 residents occupy 23,000 homes within three miles of Briscoe, it is hard to imagine that residents won’t be significantly impacted by noise.
Studies state that passenger aviation negatively impacts residential home and office and industrial commercial property values, especially in suburban or rural areas. Proximity to an airport is not the determining factor; actual impact stems from the aircraft’s noise cone.
Research indicates the negative impact ranging from 9 percent to 40 percent. You are not in the direct path of Briscoe? What happens when aircraft turn to avoid Hartsfield-Jackson, DeKalb-Peachtree and Dobbins airspace?
Have you ever parked your car at Hartsfield, returning to find it covered in ash? This ash is jet-fuel fallout from kerosene burned as jet fuel.
FAA research has determined jet aircraft are the largest producer of hazardous air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (benzene), which the EPA classifies as a Group A, or human carcinogen, meaning there is adequate human data to demonstrate the causal association between benzene and cancer.
In 1997, St. Clair County, Ill., built MidAmerica Airport to relieve Lambert-St. Louis International at a cost of $320 million. Today, the airport has one cargo flight per week.
In 2009, Branson, Mo., opened a privately built regional airport, and county government backed construction with $115 million in taxpayer bonds. Now the largest private investor, CitiGroup, is threatening foreclosure, which seems likely since the airport had only 92,000 passengers in 2010, far fewer than the 1.5 million forecast.
These examples demonstrate that building an airport does not mean airlines or passengers will come. Airlines don’t sign long-term contracts to operate from airports, other than major hubs, and generally don’t commit to service an airport until after it is built.
The FAA’s privatization application states that Gwinnett government will continue airport operation if the private operator fails.
The FAA estimated it could cost up to $2.2 billion to expand Briscoe. If privatized and expanded, Gwinnett will have little control over how much is spent, but ultimately will be responsible for debt due to the FAA’s requirement to continue airport operation.
What about the stability of the airline industry? Over the past five years, airlines have consolidated. Regional airlines have ceased operation. Remaining airlines have grounded regional jets and continue reducing scheduled flights.
Considering all this, most reasonable people conclude that expanding Briscoe Field is too great a risk for our community and would never deliver the pie-in-the-sky results projected by proponents.
Jim Regan is a member of Citizens for a Better Gwinnett.
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