||| FROM JEANNIE SHARPE for PORT OF ORCAS |||
The Orcas Island Airport is beginning the process of purchasing 197 Aviator Drive, a single-family residence and attached airplane hangar. The property owner approached the Port to purchase the property and remove the home and attached hangar at fair market value.
Since the property is located within the Airport’s Ultimate Building Restriction Line (BRL), partially within the Runway Object Free Area (ROFA), as shown on the adopted Airport Layout Plan, the Port and FAA agreed the purchase is in the best interest of the Airport. No other development is included in this project. The Airport and its consultants are preparing a categorical exclusion (CATEX) for submittal to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Port does not currently have plans to purchase any other property.
In 2017 the Port of Orcas began a master plan process for the Orcas Island Airport. During the next couple of years, the Port, with community and stakeholder involvement, developed a master plan that would guide the direction of projects to bring the airport into compliance with safety standards for existing airport operations and to provide for the future needs of island residents and visitors over the next 20 years.
Comments on this land acquisition that are received by December 15, 2021 will be included in the documentation submitted to the FAA. Comments may be submitted to Renee@theaviationplanninggroup.com.
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It is my recollection, Jeannie (having covered that time period for The Orcasonian), that while the community did have several opportunities to provide feedback in the master plan development process, the final plan came up well short of what the majority of citizens actually wanted. That’s not to say that this purchase is in any way outside of the scope of the plan, only that the implication in your write-up is that this plan, especially relating to “future needs,” was broadly approved by the greater community, and it was not.