Runway lights may return to airport
WAYNESBURG – Runway lights at Greene County Airport, which have been dark for the last three or four years, could soon be back on.
Greene County commissioners are expected to approve a motion during today’s voting meeting to approve an agreement with an adjoining property owner allowing the county to trim, or “top,” the trees that encroach on the airport’s flight path.
The Federal Aviation Administration has limited the use of the airport to daylight operations for the last few years because the height of trees at the eastern end of the runway has made it dangerous for night time landings.
“This is something we have been working on for a good while,” Commissioner Blair Zimmerman said. “It will be a good benefit for the airport as well as for the pilots.”
A dispute between local pilots and the owner of the property at the eastern end of the runway had complicated resolution of the matter.
Last fall, members of a local pilot’s group, Support Our Aviation Resources, or SOAR, attended the commissioners’ meeting to ask the commissioners to top the trees on the airport property as well as on the adjoining property to make the flight path safer.
The property owner, Larry Varner of Bedilion Road, has complained in the past about airplanes that are landing at the airport flying too close to his home and “buzzing” his property.
The local airmen said that though they had tried to make accommodations to Varner’s concerns by using a wider approach taking airplanes farther from Varner’s house, out-of town pilots were unaware of the arrangement.
The county now has an easement on a specific area of Varner’s property to maintain the height of trees for airport operations, county chief clerk Jeff Marshall said.
The new agreement will allow the county to cut trees outside the existing easement that have grown high enough to infringe on the airport flight path. Under the agreement, the county will pay Varner $4,650.
The last time the trees were trimmed at the airport was 11 years ago, in 2005, Marshall said. Once the agreement is approved, trees at the airport could be cut in the next month or two.
“Once we get the trees topped, we hope to get the lights back on,” Marshall said.
The commissioners also agreed during their Wednesday workshop meeting to consider a motion today to accept a bid of $7,200 from Ivan’s Tree Service to trim the tops of the trees on the Varner property.
In other business, the commissioners agreed to consider approval of a master service agreement with DQE Communications LLC for telecommunications services for telephone and computer connections to the county fairgrounds. The agreement will save the county about $100 a month, Marshall said.
The commissioners agree to consider a motion to award a contract to replace bridge No. 98 on Church Lane in Graysville to J5 Construction of Houston, which submitted a low bid of $458,999.
It also agreed to consider approval of a temporary easement for construction of the bridge with Cameron Lumber Co., which operates the laundromat near the bridge.
The county will pay Cameron $3,840, which Marshall noted was higher than normal but took into account impact to the business. The commissioners had earlier voted to begin condemnation proceedings against the company to obtain the easement.