City airport expansion plans touch off debate

Spending $600,000 from the Airport Tax Increment Finance district for nearly 11 acres to help expand the Kalispell airport has met opposition from several people - including the current owner of the land.

LaDona Monk owns the 10.72 acres of land directly to the west of the proposed new runway, one of 10 parcels that Airport Director Fred Leistiko says are needed for the project. This one is a parcel that Leistiko tried unsuccessfully to buy from LaDona Monk's late husband, Robert Monk, before he passed away last year.

Leistiko calls it "one of the key acquisitions' in plans to relocate and lengthen the runway by 1,000 feet - from 3,700 to 4,700 - and make other improvements to the airport.

Mrs. Monk is interested in selling the parcel now, and has been in contact with Leistiko. However, the level of that interest is in dispute.

The airport manager's report to the City Council Monday night said that, 'subject to council's approval, annexation of the property into the city, Airport TIF expansion and the update of the Airport/South Kalispell Urban Renewal Plan, Mrs. Monk has tentatively agreed to sell the property to the city."

Joe Matulevich, Monk's son-in-law, begged to differ.

Speaking for Monk during the council work session, he said Monk welcomed the city's negotiations for the land purchase but intends to pursue private sales options, as well.

Matulevich said Monk disagrees with the $600,000 government appraisal that Leistiko said the city must abide by, a figure set by local appraiser Jim Kelley in September 2008. She obtained a separate appraisal that does not agree with the city's, he added.

She also does not agree with being included in the Airport TIF district, nor with the idea of limiting her land to an aviation-related use, nor with limiting access to the property. Currently an undedicated roadway along the border between the wastewater treatment plant and the airport is the access route.

Another speaker, Michael Barrett, agreed that the offer on Monk's property was too low. And he took exception to what he called the unfair way adjacent property owners have been treated as plans to expand the airport proceeded.

He owns and operates Barrett Aviation on a tract adjacent to the current runway and sandwiched between two fingers of the Monk parcel. His hangar is on land he's owned since 1991, he said.

"I'm not opposed to the expansion, but it's not necessary to what we plan there," Barrett said of the airport update.

"A couple years ago I was basically ordered to pay $150 a month as a commercial fee," he said. "That doubled my expenses there."

Barrett paid the monthly fee for some time, then, as Leistiko reported to the council, "notified the airport last year that he was going to close his aviation business and would not be paying the monthly commercial fee for access to the airport."

"I am still in business and working on aircraft, but they don't land there," Barrett told the council. He uses space in other hangars to work on the planes, he said. "I have no intention of going out of business."

He called the city's failure to recognize the road, restrictions on accessing the runway from his hangar, attempts to buy adjacent land for "dimes on the dollar" and other actions as "anti-business' and said "it hurts all of us."

Scott Davis spoke against airport expansion plans on the basis of cost to the taxpayers, and fellow Kalispell resident Steve Eckels made a case that, although he supports local aviation, noise needs to be mitigated. Eckels asked the city to preserve the "historic soundscape" just as it has worked to preserve historic buildings.

Leistiko defended the purchase of the Monk property as necessary to runway security. The city cannot fence property it does not own, but there is no way to keep deer, stray dogs, or even ATV riders off airport property without a security fence. A 'review appraisal" should be ready this week, and "I am confident it will back up that $600,000 figure," Leistiko told the council.

After an upcoming federal bankruptcy hearing for KGEZ radio owner John Stokes, with a decision expected quickly, the airport will know how to proceed with regard to the broadcasting towers that currently obstruct clear air space off the south end of the airport.

Although adjoining properties always will experience the noise from any airport, it shouldn't be as much of an annoyance in the city when the new runway is built farther to the south and the old one is removed, Leistiko said.

Council member Tim Kluesner reiterated his long-standing opposition to the airport expansion, cautioning that federal reimbursements may never come.

Council member Bob Hafferman drew a distinction between what the airport's environmental assessment allows - improvements - "and what is being pushed, which is expansion."

"This is political," Hafferman cautioned. "This will be a campaign issue this fall."

The city created the Airport TIF in 1996 to expand the airport, classified as a 'reliever" airport to Glacier Park International Airport, and to help with urban renewal in south Kalispell. Tax revenue to the city was capped at that time, with tax growth within the district captured for projects until the district sunsets in 2023.

The most recent issue of 15-year tax bonds cannot be called before 2015, Finance Director Amy Robertson told the council.

Council member Kari Gabriel pointed out a recent study that shows the Kalispell airport has an economic impact of $24 million on the area. She also questioned Leistiko on funding for the radio tower acquisition, which he explained would be 90 percent to 95 percent federal aviation reimbursement.

Council member Jim Atkinson questioned noise levels, learning that the Federal Aviation Administration meters and monitors noise but that the airport is protected by establishing an "airport affected zone." No current noise studies are available, Leistiko said, but with a public-use airport "you can't say who can and cannot land."

Citing problems with cost, runway length, noise, air traffic volume, and safety, Kluesner suggested the city should continue trying to negotiate a fence across the Monk property rather than spending the money to buy it.

Council member Randy Kenyon quizzed Finance Director Amy Robertson on whether the purchase is a fiscally responsible move. She said it is.

"In fact this is the best time," Robertson said, "because as the economy turns around it will get more expensive."

Atkinson pointed out the business development that has taken place along the U.S. 93 South corridor because of money for infrastructure raised from the Airport TIF district.

"So we got pleasant development (at the city entrance) by using this tool," he said. "A lot of people think this is a private club for (aircraft owners). But that is not so. It's a benefit to the city."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com