Ending decades of discord, the mayors of Bridgeport and Stratford have signed an agreement to reduce the size of the Sikorsky Memorial Airport and build a runway safety zone.
“The future of the airport was at stake for a while because the leaders of the towns really weren”™t able to get along and agree,” Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch said. “Our consciences are going to rest easier now that we”™ve done everything we could to be safe.”
For years the Bridgeport-owned airport, which is technically in Stratford, has been the source of high tensions for residents and government officials. While Bridgeport wanted to see more use out of the airport and an extended crash safety zone, Stratford residents were cautious about the noise impact of additional air traffic and disruption to the nearby Lordship neighborhood.
Roughly 186 aircraft operators use the airport a day on average, according to 2010 operational statistics. About 139 single-engine airplanes, three helicopters and 33 jets are based on the field.
Not even an April 1994 crash at the airport that left eight people dead spurred an agreement between the two cities over new safety measures.
But now, with the Federal Aviation Administration willing to pay 90 percent of the $20 million project, the towns have struck an agreement.
A safety zone will be built at the end of the airport”™s runway, requiring a section of Stratford”™s Main Street to be rerouted. The project is expected to be completed just months ahead of a federal mandate to install the safety zone by 2015.
The towns will split the remaining costs.
The agreement also includes locking in runways at their current lengths, a requirement to clean up blight on the airport grounds and a 40-acre reduction in the size of the airport. Additionally, by rerouting Main Street, some flooding problems will be resolved for Stratford.
“For decades, the residents of Lordship have been wrongly denied access to their homes because of high tides and average-sized rainstorms,” Stratford Mayor John A. Harkins said in a statement. “Not only from a convenience standpoint, but in terms of public safety concerns, this agreement will bring welcomed relief to the people of Lordship. ”¦ By reducing the overall footprint of the airport and locking in the length of the runways we can assure the residents of Lordship that the airport will not be expanded now or in the future.”
Both mayors say the deal is a result of their positive working relationship and the help of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other state officials. Finch was also happy to report to that the towns will no longer stand in the way of possible private investments in the airport.
“People who want to invest in the airport know the government is solidly behind them and that the towns are cooperating,” Finch told the Business Journal. “Their investments will be safer. There won”™t be any inter-town squabbling to stop the success of the airport.”
