We are always looking to update you regarding activity at the Canandaigua Airport. Below is a list of activity seen on the field.
August 19, 2009
Thomas Road will be condemned to make way for a runway expansion at the airport in Canandaigua. The Town Board approved a settlement with the Ontario County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) for $90,000 in exchange for “discontinuing pending litigation” and allowing the IDA to close the road and make way for the expansion.
“This has been a protracted issue for five years,” said Councilman Ralph Brandt. “It’s time for closure.”
The board voted 4-1 in favor of the measure. Councilwoman Marion Cassie logged the only vote against the settlement, which she said amounts to no more than what the IDA originally offered the town for Thomas Road — $50,000 — plus the $40,000 the town has since spent in legal fees battling the IDA over the past three years.
Mike Manikowski, executive director of the IDA, said he is “very happy” to hear news of the settlement.
“I’m sure my board is very happy that a settlement has been achieved,” he said.
The IDA filed suit against the town in 2006, looking to affirm its right to use eminent domain — the government’s authority to take property — and close the road. Until now, the town, citing the road’s necessity to residents, opposed this closure.
“It was not right then, it’s not right now, and I refuse to vote for it,” said Cassie.
The back-and-forth between the town and the IDA came to a head in June, when a state Supreme Court justice ruled that the IDA has the authority to close the road to make way for the runway expansion. In his ruling, Justice John Ark said, “the airport expansion project will serve a greater public need than keeping a small portion of Thomas Road open based on the special, unusual and peculiar circumstances of this case.”
Cassie called that ruling “ridiculous” and “bogus.”
Councilman David Dawson cited the “six-figure legal fees” that would result from continuing to battle it out in the courts.
“I cannot continue to legitimize spending more money for something I seriously don’t think we’re going to win,” he said. “We need to come to closure on this. Unfortunately, it’s the nature of the beast.”
The decision to settle followed an hour-long, closed-door session of the board at the end of the regular Town Board meeting Tuesday night. Earlier in the evening, Naomi Pritchard, whose family owns property along Thomas Road, urged the town not to settle.
“I’m here to encourage this board to continue to take a stand against the closing of Thomas Road,” she said. “We have been bribed and badgered, and we continue to say no.”
A settlement “would set a precedent,” she said, and “town government will certainly not have a leg to stand on.”
Naomi Pritchard and her husband, Gary, were initially offered $30,000 by the IDA for an easement that would grant the IDA “air rights” over their land, which abuts the airport runway. That offer was never accepted. Local farmer Chris Pritchard also once had a pending deal with the IDA to sell 75 acres of his land near the airport for $525,000 to make way for the expansion. That sale never went through.
Fralick said the “Pritchards will now have to negotiate with the IDA on this.”
Another town resident, Jack Kellogg, “encouraged this board to continue this fight.”
“If you people put your name to this you’re really doing a disservice to yourselves and the town,” he said.
Fralick said he simply couldn’t continue to spend the funds on a case he couldn’t see the town winning.
“I look at the probability of winning this case,” he said. “This will continue to tremendous cost to taxpayers with no guarantee of success.”
Fralick said the IDA will also pay for the closure of Thomas Road and “the putting in of the cul-de-sacs.” He could not say when that would happen. Manikowski said it will likely take “several years yet” before the IDA initiates construction of the expansion.
“We have to go back to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and report all this,” said Manikowski. “So it’s going to take time.”
July 27, 2009
Well the weather is starting to resemble summer and ironically cooler heads may prevail when it comes to the airport expansion. Here is an update from the Messenger Post News dated July 14th:
Interim Town Supervisor Jim Fralick said Monday he wants to review a settlement proposal first discussed nearly three years ago in the court fight over an expansion of the Canandaigua Airport.
“We have to leave our options open on this,” said Fralick.
At a special Town Board meeting June 26, the board voted unanimously to file an intent to appeal a ruling by a state Supreme Court justice allowing the Ontario County Industrial Development Agency to close a section of Thomas Road to make way for a runway expansion at the airport.
The Town Board has about 60 days left to decide whether to actually appeal the ruling, said Fralick. In other words, the Town Board will have to take another vote on the matter.
Meanwhile, Fralick said he plans to schedule a meeting with Ontario County Administrator Geoff Astles to go over the details of a proposed settlement Astles drew up in late 2006.
The draft agreement called for the IDA to make concessions to the town of Canandaigua and affected landowners.
It would have required the IDA and county to contribute $25,000 each to county-wide agriculture improvement projects, require the IDA pay for costs to protect and preserve farmland adjacent to the airport off Brickyard Road, and require the county and IDA to build a farm access road to mitigate safety concerns and inconveniences to the farming operation of Chris Pritchard’s family. In return, the town would agree to close the middle portion of Thomas Road, making it a dead end on both sides.
“I want to look at that,” Fralick said Monday. “Let’s see if something can be worked out.”
“It is a really hard decision,” he added, because some in the community believe the IDA is behaving illegally.
IDA Chairman Michael Manikowski responded Monday to Fralick’s willingness to consider a settlement by saying: “That’s fantastic.”
Manikowski said he is eager to sit down and talk about a settlement at any time.
The IDA, which owns the airport, has been battling with the Town Board over the 1,000-foot stretch of Thomas Road for nearly four years. The IDA filed suit against the town in 2006, looking to affirm its right to use eminent domain — the government’s authority to take property — and close the road. The town, citing the road’s necessity to residents, has opposed the closure.
The town, represented by law firm Chamberlain D’Amanda, has spent between $30,000 and $40,000 on the airport case, including work involving the most recent intent to appeal, said Fralick.
The IDA, represented by John Hood of Nixon Peabody LLP, has spent about $70,000 to date on the case, said IDA finance manager, Mary Gates.
April 18, 2009
- Perimeter Fencing appears complete except for an area around Mercy Flight Central.
- Video Surveillance equipment has been installed around the FBO and hangers.
We have asked the FAA and the Ontario County IDA for information regarding the expansion plan and it’s progress, but have not received any information from either party. The parties contacted include the following:
Christine Poppe (FAA NY) Chris.Poppe@faa.gov
Chad Nixon (Airport Engineer) cnixon@mjinc.com
John Moretto (FAA Airport Engineer) john.moretto@faa.gov
Steve Urlass (Office of Airports) steve.urlass@faa.gov
Michael Manikowski (IDA) michael.manikowski@co.ontario.ny.us
If you know of any updates, please post them below.
