[JYO] Crosstrail Gets Hearing Monday; Former Airport Operator Joins Peterson's Team
- From: FlyboyEd@xxxxxxx
- To: jyo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 17:04:54 EDT
Crosstrail Gets Hearing Monday; Former Airport Operator Joins Peterson's Team
_Molly Novotny_ (mailto:)
Jun 16, 2006 -- Some may say Jim Haynes is a glutton for punishment. He
prefers to say he is passionate about the airport.
Under either description, the former fixed base operator of the Leesburg
Airport, whose position the 1993 Leesburg Town Council terminated after he
struggled financially in operating the town airfield, continues to be involved
in
airport operations. Most recently, he joined the Peterson Companies team in
touting the Crosstrail development as an economic boom to the town-owned
facility.
His support is in stark contrast to the townâs airport commission and the
majority of town council. The council and airport commission oppose the
project,
citing concerns about residences encroaching on the airport and the
integration of retail uses on land designated for regional employment
development.
In anticipation of the county planning commissionâs public hearing next week
on the mixed-use application, the council adopted a resolution Tuesday
reaffirming its opposition to the rezoning request. It previously sent two
other
recommendations of denial to the county, one in response to the applicantâs
first submission and the second responding to the second submission, said David
Fuller, chief of comprehensive planning for the town. This is the first
resolution to go directly to the board of supervisors; those previous ones went
to county staff, he said. The Leesburg Planning Commission is holding a public
input session Thursday and intends to adopt a similar resolution. It will
then participate in the countyâs public hearing, which is scheduled to begin
at
6 p.m. Monday in the countyâs boardroom.
Earlier this year, the town council declined to approve Haynesâ nomination to
serve on the Airport Commission. Last month, Haynes was a leader of the
effort to unseat Mayor Kristen Umstattd by mounting a write-in campaign to
elect
Supervisor Jim Clem (R-Leesburg) to the post.
Haynes said he is serving as a paid consultant to the Peterson Companies, a
position he said he asked for because he didnât agree with the opposition the
project is receiving.
âI know that property pretty well and have for 20 or more years, because I
had a contract to buy it in the early â80s,â when he was managing the
airport,
he said Tuesday. And after studying Petersonâs plans to model its
development after Fairfax Cornerâs mix of retail, residential and offices
centered
around a movie theater and pedestrian gathering space, Haynes said, âI
honestly
believe that what Peterson is planning to do there is the best thing that can
happen to the airport.â
The companies that locate in Petersonâs Fairfax Corner, and would likely
locate in its proposed development between the Dulles Greenway and the Leesburg
Executive Airport, Haynes said, tend to be larger companies, âthe kind of
companies that own and operate business jets.â
He said itâs corporate jets that will bring the airport out of its financial
dependency on the town.
âI think Crosstrail has very high potential to bring those kinds of airplanes
back to the airport,â he said, referencing the jets he said were housed
there in the 1980s and early 1990s. It wonât take many to make the airport
economically viable, Haynes said.
In a press release Friday, Peterson announced that the National Rural
Utilities Cooperative Financing Corporation, CFC, is planning to build a
125,000-square-foot office center at the Crosstrail property, if the
development is
approved. CFC would house 250 employees at the new Loudoun office, according
to
the release.
The majority of the town council and the airport commission strongly
disagrees, warning that the development would threaten to close the airport,
not
improve its economic status. The airport commission scheduled a strategy
session
for Wednesday to prepare for its briefing to the countyâs planning commission
on Monday.
In addition to the commissionâs claims that much of the proposed development
is inappropriate for the airport, commission Vice Chairman Dennis Boykin said
members are also concerned about the âthrough the fenceâ airport
operations
the Peterson Companies has discussed as a compliment to the airport.
âWe canât find an airport where the airport manager is happy with
through-the-fence operations,â Boykin said Tuesday. Boykin questions
Haynesâ
involvement, saying his past with the airport is less than successful.
In endorsing its resolution against the Crosstrail development, Councilman
Bob Zoldos and Councilwoman Katie Sheldon Hammler strayed from their colleagues
and voted against the resolution.
Zoldos first questioned the need for another resolution, saying the council
had twice previously expressed its opinion, without receiving any response
back from the county.
âWhat are we accomplishing by the third one?â Zoldos asked. âThey
havenât
responded to the two that we sent previously, and I donât suppose theyâll
respond to this one either.â He then went on to say the economic benefits of
the
project will outweigh the safety risks.
âI donât think Crosstrail will harm the Leesburg Airport. I think it will
help,â Zoldos said on the dais.
Hammler voted against the measure for other reasons, saying she wanted to
hear from the public before sending another opinion from the town.
âI think it would send a much stronger message if we let the process work,â
Hammler said, referencing the planning commissionâs public input session
scheduled for Thursday night in council chambers. That meeting is scheduled to
begin at 7 p.m.
Fuller said the request for the councilâs resolution came from the planning
commission.
âOur planning commission wanted to make a statement at the [countyâs]
public
hearing,â he said Wednesday morning.
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