READINGTON TWP. -- Despite a round of proposals and counter-proposals, township officials and Solberg Aviation Co. remain at odds over the future of the Solberg airport. Township officials have been negotiating behind closed doors with the Solberg family since September but have failed to reach an agreement. Mayor Gerard Shamey told a crowd of nearly 200 during a public meeting Tuesday the impasse is largely due to the Solbergs' commitment to lengthening the runway for corporate jet use. Shamey called the Solbergs' position "unreasonable" and said it would negatively impact the community's quality of life.

That assessment did not deter Suzanne Solberg Nagle, who owns the airport with her brother and sister, from urging that negotiations continue. At Tuesday's meeting Nagle suggested the sides consider non-binding arbitration. She said she had not conferred with her siblings, Thor Solberg Jr. and Lorraine Solberg, who did not attend the Tuesday meeting. "I'd have to take (the issue of non-binding arbitration) to the rest of the committee," Shamey said Wednesday. "But I would be disinclined to take that route."

The idea of an outside source who doesn't live in the township or understand its history making a decision, even if the township wasn't obligated to adhere to it, doesn't sit well with him, Shamey said. Solberg Aviation's final proposal hinges on the airport developing as a regional business airport that handles jets, according to Committeeman Frank Gatti, who has been a negotiator in the issue along with Committeewoman Julia Allen.

The company's final proposal includes fully improving and extending its existing main runway from 3,000 feet in length to 5,000 feet and improving the crosswinds runway with a taxiway from 3,400 feet long to 3,700 feet long, Gatti said. It also excludes restrictions on nighttime operations. The township's final proposal maintains the airport as it exists but includes paving the main runway to 3,735 feet long. It also includes safety improvements that would benefit only aircraft types the airport currently serves. "The airport needs to be the right size, and in our view that is the right size for our community," Shamey said. Solberg Aviation also proposed to include 500,000 square feet of hangar and office space, while the township proposed 150,000 square feet of hangar space.

Under the Solberg proposal, the company asks the township to pay $36 million for the development rights and restrictions on the open space not developed under the expansion. The township proposed purchasing about 650 acres of open space around the airport for $22 million in order to preserve the land. That cost would be largely reimbursed by state grants, Gatti said.

In July, officials introduced a $22 million bond ordinance to purchase the property but dropped the idea during an Aug. 22 meeting, when they announced the Solbergs had agreed to begin negotiations. Prior to that, the state Department of Transportation agreed to purchase the land for the same amount, but the deal fell through. A team of professionals Tuesday provided detailed information as to the nature of the land, threatened species on the property, the acoustics of a potential expansion and the nature of the airport's business.

According to Richard Golaszewski, an aviation professional who studied Solberg Aviation's proposals, a 4,000-foot-long runway can accommodate mid-sized business jets and a 5,000-foot runway can accommodate even larger jets of up to 40,000 pounds with about a 50-foot wingspan. A 6,000-foot runway could accommodate large business jets up to almost 70,000 pounds, he said.

Wade Wander, of Wander Ecological Associates Inc., listed a dozen endangered or rare species, including the wood turtle and several types of birds, which either have been seen on the property or are likely to spend some time on it. According to a study the township's planner, Michael Sullivan, presented Tuesday, acquiring the airport and surrounding property is in line with municipal, county and state goals and would "advance the public interest," he said. By acquiring the property, the township could preserve the prime farmland and the airport, and ensure the historic district just south of the property isn't infringed upon, he said.

Reporter Andrea Eilenberger can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at aeilenberger@express-times.com.

© 2006 The Express-Times.

Date: January 19, 2006 Source: PennLive.com
URL: http://www.pennlive.com/news/expresstimes/nj/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1137665254213460.xml&coll=2&thispage=1