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UNC won't create airport authority(Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 10--CHAPEL HILL -- UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp took a bold step to quell the simmering controversy over the Orange County airport Friday, announcing that he asked the UNC Board of Governors not to create an airport authority to identify a replacement site for Horace Williams Airport. The announcement, made during a quickly organized press conference at South Building, ends months of speculation and protest that began when the General Assembly quietly passed legislation last summer empowering the Board of Governors to create an airport authority. Horace Williams, home base for the Area Health Education Centers' MedAir program, will close at an undetermined time during the construction of Carolina North. "We ended up surprising people with the legislation far more than we should have," Thorp said. His decision does not preclude the airport issue from arising again at some point in the future, but Thorp said it should be up to Orange County residents and elected leaders to decide whether a local airport is wanted or needed. He quipped that the process should not be akin to the National Football League's Colts moving from Baltimore to Indianapolis in the middle of the night. Opposition to UNC's airport plan sprung up almost immediately following the passage of Senate Bill 1925, which gave a majority of seats on the authority to university representatives and didn't include permanent seats for Carrboro or Hillsborough. Citizen groups formed to oppose the airport feared that private property would be seized through eminent domain and argued that the legislation was pushed through by special interests. Members of the Orange County Board of Commissioners were miffed at a perceived lack of communication by university officials and under-representation on the proposed airport authority. "There is a great deal of distrust, not necessarily of the authority, but of the process by which by which it came to be," Thorp said. "That distrust would likely extend to the authority when its members were appointed." The chancellor said UNC President Erskine Bowles, Speaker of the House Joe Hackney, UNC trustees and local elected officials all supported his decision. Valerie Foushee, chairwoman of the Orange County Commissioners, said that if the airport comes up again all stakeholders will be at the table. "We believe this is the right decision for Orange County at this time," Foushee said. Leaders of the airport opposition burst into applause at Thorp's announcement Friday. "Both Erskine and Holden have excellent reputations, and when they looked at the process they realized it was wrong," said Cliff Leath of Preserve Rural Orange. "They did the right thing. It restored my faith in the university and in the leadership of the university." Bonnie Hauser of Orange County Voice said she is thrilled with the decision and congratulated the citizens, businesses and community groups that pushed back against the airport. The group's work is not done, she said. "Orange County Voice will continue to work to put zoning and other safeguards into place for the long-term, but this certainly is a great success for us all," Hauser wrote. Thorp said the hardest part of his decision was sharing it with the Area Health Education Centers' doctors to whom he promised a local alternative to Horace Williams. However, after reading extensively about the issue and consulting with university attorneys, the chancellor concluded that formation of the authority "would be unable to accomplish what we had hoped." Area Health Education Centers will move to Raleigh-Durham International Airport, where a new $3.5 million hangar is already being planned for the program. "I think when they move to RDU, that [plan] will be tweaked, but I'm confident that they care about their mission enough that they will make it work," Thorp said. To see more of The Herald-Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald-sun.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |