Protect city's heritage: Expand airport

It is hard to believe that the Kalispell City Council is actually considering closing the municipal airport that has been part of our local heritage for more than 80 years.

But they are. And from what we hear, the vote Monday night could even give the airport opponents an unexpected victory.

We understand that not everyone uses the airport, but that’s not a decisive factor in such matters. Not everyone uses the Buffalo Hill Golf Course either. Not everyone likes to swim at the city’s water park. And lots of the people who benefit from those facilities aren’t even city residents, so don’t start complaining about how the airport serves people from other localities.

Besides, as a tourism destination, don’t we want to encourage people from other places to come to Kalispell?

Ultimately, having an airport in town is not just about individuals having a place to house or land their planes. It is more a decision about who we are and what kind of image we project for our community. This airport has welcomed visitors to the Flathead for 83 years. It has also inspired generations of children and adults to take an interest in science, engineering and piloting — plus it offers a valuable service in a convenient location.

Looking forward, there is no reason why the significant economic benefits of the airport cannot be increasingly exploited by Kalispell. A report from several years ago showed that the airport already has an economic impact of millions of dollars in its current condition, but the improvements that can be done with minimal investment of local dollars thanks to FAA funding would greatly expand that.

Hopefully, the City Council can see this simple logic. Up till now, by letting the airport deteriorate and become a second-class priority over the past 20 years, the City Council has been negligent in its fiduciary responsibility, and if it turns its back on the $13.5 million that it can leverage from FAA, it will only be adding to that negligence.

Opponents of the airport say that the property could be sold off to private developers who would be able to create a project or multiple projects that would benefit the community more than an airport. Maybe so. But maybe not. Remember the hockey arena that was going to be built north of Kalispell? Remember the Glacier Mall that Bucky Wolford was going to build?

We HAVE an airport. We just have DREAMS of a civic center or a performing arts center or a fairgrounds or whatever you can name, but there is absolutely no certainty that anything of value would ever replace the airport. More likely, as the airport was allowed to languish, it would eventually be replaced by another subdivision or an industrial park or a shopping center and would just contribute to the urban sprawl we have already seen elsewhere. Or, at worst, it would turn into a blighted eyesore as weeds grew and buildings crumbled.

What we have now is open space, an opportunity to build an airport that will serve the community for another 20 or 30 years, and a piece of history that can never be replaced.

There are only two sets of people who will benefit by getting rid of the airport — property developers, who could try to turn the city’s loss into their profit, and neighboring residents who bought homes next to the airport and then decided to shut it down because they didn’t like the noise.

Of course, the City Council doesn’t work for real-estate developers, and their chance to make money should have no relevance to the airport discussion.

As for those neighbors who don’t like having an airport nearby, they should have no more voice in the final decision than other residents. If they were to prevail in their attempt to shut down the airport, what would stop them from coming back next month and starting a movement to shut down the sewage treatment plant in the same vicinity? The odors from that facility are at least as annoying as the slight buzz of a plane flying overhead.

The City Council needs to represent all the city, not special interests. If the city is going to prosper and grow, it needs forward-looking leadership, not a circle-the-wagons mentality. Expanding the airport is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that must not be squandered. Don’t be afraid to do the right thing.