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HomeMy WebLinkAboutU.S. Gets First Shot at Sebastian Airport0'.S. Gets First Shot Aj ebastian Alrpprt. By PATRICIA DiL-ALLA The closure would depend on Fleming James, executive assistant "It is very easy to close the air - Sebastian Bureau Chief . there being no grant obligations. to the regional administrator of the port," said Weathers of the. FAA, The city of. Sebastian can close attached to the airport by the city, General Services Administration in "if there is no obligation to the (ed- its municipal airport on its own au said Arthur Weathers, manager of Atlanta.. - eral government-" thority and the possibility exists airport planning and dev•:'opment Should all elements fall into. ."(The city) -would put out a that the federal government could for the Southern Regiona' ;►Mce of place, however, the Indian River notice to the world that they are donate the land for educational fa FAA in Atlanta; County School Board could obtain closing it up. Tht:': would have to cilities. And before the land c:aid be do the property free for a north county mark the runways so pilots know - So say officials with the Federal nated. for public schools, all other high school, as proposed by the they are not operating runways: Aviation and General Services ad federal; agencies would.. have the Citizens Airport Watch_ ac a meet- he said. ,' ministrations. opportunity to acquire it,.., said ing Tuesday. If t1wre is no ;, ant obligation., the FAA could not 1,:.�vent ths city from closing the airport, Weathers said "We are in Uje aviation business and we don't normally like to see airports close," he said. "If the airport is: serving a purpose, we would not look with favor on it closing. But- we couldn't tell (the city) it couldn't close it." , Sebastian City Manager Robb McClary said a- far as he knows the only grant the city has t,utained for the airport is for the master plan study. "I don't know if the grant obligation we have for the master plan would qualify for this or not," McClary said. If the deed transferring the land to the city' has a reverter clause in it, then the land would automatically revert to the federal government when the airport closes, Weathers said. The 1959 deed from the federal government for the 600-acre airport does contain a reverter clause. Once the property goes back to the federal government, the General Services Administra- tion checks with all other federal agencies to see if they want or need the land, said James of the GSA. That includes the Department. of Urban De yelopment, which decides whether the property is appropriate for use for the homeless as re- quired under a law that went.into effect a few months ago, James said. If no other agency wants the land, then the GSA would "determine what the highest and best use of the property is," he said. . . - ' . The GSA woui i accept proposals from anyone for the land, including school boards and developers, James said. - There are six uses of the land for which the government would donate it, he said. One is for educational facilities. The other uses would be as anairport, prison, park, historic monument and health facility. As long as the land is used for an educational or health.facility for at least 30 years, then it will be given permanently to whomever oper- ates the facility, James said. If the use is less than 30 years for education or health or if it is used for any of the other four categories, it would revert to the government 'should the use end, he said. `'If the value of the property is such we don't want to give it to someone, we would work with whoever is interested in buying the property," James said. John Evans, at for the Citizens Airport Watch, -said the group's w,.pert in Washington has indicated that there is a way to work direct- ly with the FAA to transfer the land to the city, rather than risk losing it to another federal agency. "It would be worth exploring to'S : e if the FAA and GSA would do that," Evans said. "Barring that, we would have to bu,+it for fair market value." Sebastian's city manager said a policy deci- sion to close the airport to make way for a high school would have to be made by the City Council. _ "I think it is obvious the city is under some legal obligation to the fixed base operators," McClary said, "and there Is an 18-hole golf course located on that property that is gov- erned by a detailed financing agreement. "I am a little surprised; it sounds awful easy. Obviously, the city would have to look at its legal obligations," McClary said.