[All] Airport survey

[Eleanor Grant]

Hi GREN All,

Yesterday I went to a public input session about expanding the airport.

See waterlooairport.ca/masterplan .
You can e-mail your comments from that page.

They are deciding among 4 options: status quo (room for a little growth),
low growth, medium growth, and high growth.

They had info sessions which claimed that once you get up to Option 3 -
medium growth capacity - both noise and the cost to taxpayers will
decrease.  Which seems counterintuitive.

Noise reduction is to be accomplished by having a longer runway and
locating it farther east.  In this way the jets can take off at lower
power, and reach a higher altitude before flying over cities.  (There was
more detail to this, that I didn't understand.)

Residents of Hespeler weren't offered any relief from those
Baffin-Island-bound cargo planes with loud engines that shatter their peace
early in the morning.  And it seems, to me anyway, that a more easterly
runway might be noisier for Hespeler while being quieter for Kitchener.

Tax savings are expected with Option 3 by reaching the critical capacity of
a million passengers per year.  Increased revenues would be enough to pay
for both operating costs and the debt servicing on the additional $50 M
that would have to be borrowed - according to the project team.

I brought up the question of greenhouse gas emissions, and was told it
wouldn't be any worse than having all those people drive their cars to
catch a plane in Toronto, "if they're going to fly anyway".

I've also been asking around about a GO train stop at Breslau.  Apparently
this was shelved as Kitchener got a stripped model of GO service.  But at
the same time, building unlimited parking on green field doesn't bother
anyone.  BTW, Option 3 also involves building a grade separation where
Shantz Stn Rd crosses the tracks.

I'm baffled because they're preaching the right gospel on rapid transit and
downtown intensification, yet the same mentality doesn't extend to other
forms of transportation such as Hwy 7 and the airport.  Saving farmland
drops off the radar.

Different forms of transport don't talk to one another!  Last night I went
to hear Sue Zielinski at the School of Architecture, and this is just what
she talks about:  A whole transportation solution instead of separate silos.

Most telling I thought, was the statement that our airport is getting only
a small percentage of flights now being made by residents within our
35-km-radius catchment area, and they want to get that number up.  Even if
the principles are opposite to those used to promote the LRT.

My rant.  I'd be interested in hearing what you all think.

Eleanor
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20140207/c72a3321/attachment.html>