READINGTON TWP. - A poll of 300 township voters commissioned by the owners of Solberg Airport indicates those questioned would overwhelmingly prefer the airport to remain under private ownership.

Readington’s mayor, however, calls the questions and results misleading.

The Solberg family released some of the results of the telephone poll last Friday, prior to a public hearing scheduled for next Monday, Aug. 15, on the Township Committee’s proposal to authorize up to $22 million in bond sales to potentially be used by the township to purchase the 730-acre airport facility and surrounding open space.

Eighty-five percent of the residents polled said they would oppose the township’s purchase of the property in response to the question, “Would you support or oppose a plan for Readington Township to purchase Solberg Airport if you knew that doing so would lead to a 27 percent increase in municipal property taxes?”

Thor Solberg Jr., son and namesake of the aviator pioneer who established Solberg Airport in 1941, said the family does not believe it’s in the best interests of either the township or family to sell the airport to the municipality.

But Mayor Frank Gatti said that poll question and others were so slanted that, as asked, an average taxpayer would automatically respond “no.” Gatti said the township is preparing data in time for the Aug. 15 hearing to show how the $22 million purchase, if it ever occurs, would not be ultimately funded by local taxpayers.

“If a deal is struck, funding would come predominantly from a variety of state and federal sources, and the Township Committee is confident that a funding package could be put together that would have no impact on the municipal tax rate,” Gatti wrote in a letter to residents mailed out of the municipal building last Friday, Aug. 5.

But if the Solbergs and township are unable to willingly reach an agreement on price, which the Township Committee is planning to offer in cash, the idea of buying the airport is likely to die on the vine, Gatti said.

“If the price comes in too high, we are likely not to continue,” the mayor said. He said the Township Committee has not discussed the possibility of acquiring the airport through eminent domain, or property condemnation, and he himself would not be in favor of such a move.

Gatti’s letter was written in response to the phone calls that the mayor said he and other committee members had received about the unsolicited July 28 telephone poll. He said the research company conducting the poll would not tell respondents who had commissioned the questions.

In response to Gatti’s argument, Solberg said that 77 percent of residents who responded said they would prefer the Solbergs to remain as owners, instead of having the airport owned and operated by Readington’s local government. That question was asked even before the poll conductors mentioned the cost or the impact of funding, Solberg said.

An even higher percent, 93.7 percent, or 281 of the 300 respondents, said they would prefer having a public vote on the question of whether the Solbergs should acquire the airport, instead of having the Township Committee making the decision without a public referendum.

Solberg indicated the airport owners would even prefer the state to own the facility, although a $20 million offer from the state to buy the airport expired earlier this summer after several years on the table.

But Solberg added last Friday, the day he released the poll results, “We haven’t ruled out anything,” as far as the state. Nevertheless, following the state’s initial offer in early 2002, the Solbergs had commissioned another appraisal, which set the value of the airport as more than $40 million.

Asked whether the Solbergs would sell to the township, Solberg responded, “I don’t think that’s in the best interests of the township or the best interests of the Solberg family.”

Solberg pointed out that running a municipal airport, even with hiring an outside firm to conduct the actual day-to-day business, is an expensive and difficult proposition.

“It’s a lot of work (and) it’s a liability to the municipality,” Solberg said. “It takes a lot of financial resources.”

“The Solberg family has contributed its own sweat equity,” Solberg said. “Municipal employees don’t have the same incentive.”

In the letter to residents, Gatti again mentioned the fear of officials and some residents that the small airport could expand into a major jetport, particularly if the facility ever came under the ownership of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has previously been on the lookout for a fourth major airport in the metropolitan area.

Some jets land at the airport now, but that number would not materially increase if the airport were permitted to upgrade its facility, an idea that first sparked fears a major expansion was being planned about five years ago.

“We want to repave the (3,735-foot-long) runway and move it a little so it’s out of the way,” Solberg said last Friday. “We have to enhance the safety, security and efficiency of the current facility,” he said.

Several other questions came up in the poll. In response to the question, “Would you support or oppose a plan for Readington Township to purchase Solberg Airport if you knew that doing so would nearly double the township’s current debt to over $90 million?,” 86 percent of those polled said they would oppose such a purchase.

Gatti called that information “false.” He also complained that other poll questions, which were not released, asked personal questions about the residents’ opinions of himself and Township Committeewoman Julia Allen.

Suspicions have remained on both sides, with some township officials apparently believing that the Solbergs are not revealing their ultimate plans for the airport.

As for Thor Solberg, he said last Friday that he was worried the township’s intention is to again try to condemn his airport, a controversial proposal in 2001 that bitterly divided the community, and opened the door for the state offer. “I’ve been through this before,” he said.

In the poll, 72 percent of respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Solberg Airport, with 57.3 percent, or 172 respondents, saying they had visited or used the airport in the past year. Others had visited the airport either more frequently or rarely, with 42.7 percent stating they had never used or visited the facility.

Copyright © Recorder Newspapers 2005

Date: August 10, 2005 Source: Hunterdon Review — www.hunterdonreview.com
URL: http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15009633&BRD=1918&PAG=461&dept_id=333252&rfi=8