Hundreds hotly debate Readington plans to purchase airport
Public hearing on plans to spend $22M for Solberg-Hunterdon Airport will continue next week

By CHRISTA SEGALINI
Staff Writer

READINGTON -- A public hearing on whether the township should attempt to buy Solberg-Hunterdon Airport will continue next week after hundreds of residents filled Monday night's meeting and hotly debated the proposed purchase.

A second public hearing is scheduled for next Monday at a location to be announced, since the number of residents at Monday's hearing exceeded capacity at the township municipal building on Route 523. The topic is whether the township should spend $22 million to buy the 730-acre airport on Thor Solberg Road -- even though the airport's owners say it's not for sale.

"I disagree with what you are proposing. I don't agree that government has any business running private enterprise," said Thomas Delessio, who lives in the township's Whitehouse section. "We don't want the noise, and we don't want expansion (of the airport) ... but I don't see that coming."

Others, however, said the township is taking the right step.

"Do what you have to do for the township and the surrounding communities," said resident Ted Peters. "I remind the committee that around three years ago a petition was presented by 4,600 voters, all asserting that they were in favor of the township's intent to purchase the airport."

At the start of Monday's hearing, Mayor Frank Gatti said the township introduced the bond ordinance on July 18, about a month after the state stopped talks with the Solberg family. Both parties had spent about four years negotiating the airport's purchase after the state first offered to buy it for $22 million.

Gatti cited preservation of community character, open space, the airport and natural resources as some of the reasons for interest in the property. Gatti also challenged the Solbergs' public statements about the airport not being for sale.

Further, Gatti said anticipated funding for the purchase -- a "not to exceed" cost estimate of $22 million or $30,000 per acre -- would include money from the state's Green Acres Planning Incentive Grant, New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust Loan and airport preservation funding. None of that money is in place, however.

Still, at least one resident said the Township Committee's actions puts them in a position to proceed with condemnation if the Solbergs decline the township's offer to buy the airport.

"A good attorney would be able to tell you you don't need a bond ordinance to negotiate," said Paul Sauerland, a former mayor of the township, a former Hunterdon County freeholder and a resident of the township's Stanton section. "The general public has been very concerned with the late abuse of eminent domain. The mayor tells us that eminent domain has not been considered, but the only purpose for an ordinance would be to allow us to go into eminent domain."