UNC halts airport search

A decision to call off a search for a new airport in Orange County was met with applause from many residents but might not spell the end for a local runway.

Chancellor Holden Thorp announced in a press conference Friday that he would not seat an airport authority charged with replacing Horace Williams Airport.

He said the operations of the N.C. Area Health Education Centers which fly doctors across the state will move from Horace Williams to a new hanger at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Thorp's move was well received by many residents across the county who protested a new airport.

Expansion at UNC's new 250-acre satellite research campus was driving the school's efforts to build another airport. The new UNC Law School building is slated for Horace Williams' runway.

As UNC formed plans to build on the space Horace Williams occupies University officials sought and won legislation that allowed them to build a new larger airport anywhere in Orange County using the power of eminent domain to take land.

But many are still in favor of an in-county airport and will continue to pursue building a new one or keeping Horace Williams.

Jim Heavner who owns WCHL and helped then-Chancellor James Moeser fund a 2008 study on the economic benefit of a new airport" said Orange County needs its own runway.

""It is unfortunate that it appears that the protests of a group of citizens who live in a part of the county where" in my judgement the airport was not very to likely to be built — for that group to follow its fears and organize in such a way that it caused all discussions of issues relating to an airport to be clouded" said Heavner, who talked to Thorp before the announcement.

Other supporters of local aviation said the prospect of a new airport has not been completely scratched.

 Thorp said Friday he will not seek to repeal the law that granted UNC the power to build a new airport.

While we're disappointed that it's not proceeding at the moment" we're encouraged that he hasn't closed the door on it" said Chris Dancy, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Dancy said the group, a long-time advocate of either preserving Horace Williams or replacing it, is seeking a meeting with UNC-systems President Erskine Bowles.

N.C. Rep. Bill Faison (D-Orange) said Horace Williams could stay open for much longer than expected in the recession economy.

I think it's a very low probability of it closing in the immediate future" he said. Faison supported the bill's language which required the airport authority to build the airport in Orange County.

And Chris Hudson of the N.C. Friends of Horace Williams said his organization will pursue legislation to prevent UNC from closing the old airport.

Thorp admitted there were mistakes in the way UNC went about the process of finding a replacement airport.

He said the move to drop airport plans came after months of researching the ins and outs of siting a new airport — an initiative he inherited from his predecessor Moeser — and meeting with concerned residents.

There's too much distrust" he said. I feared that that distrust would extend to the authority.""

UNC's efforts to replace Horace Williams particularly stressed the relationship between Orange County commissioners and the University.

Commissioners felt Thorp left them out of the loop on the process and gave them a disproportionate say on the authority.

In response" county officials are strengthening the laws that govern where an airport could go said Commissioner Bernadette Pelissier.

The board reaffirmed that goal in its retreat Saturday Pelissier said. Although UNC has the power to take land by eminent domain the county has the ability to regulate that land's use according to the airport legislation.

Many residents were ecstatic about Thorp's decision to forgo the authority" while officials were supportive.

""Perhaps the way this was done wasn't the best way"" Faison said. And I applaud the University's decision to step back and take look at this.""



Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.