Gwinnett Commission Should Make Informed Decision, Not Limit Options on Briscoe Field

Written by Bob Griggs

This evening (Thursday), the County Commission will host a forum to hear public comments on the notion of privatizing Gwinnett’s airport, Briscoe Field, and allowing scheduled service. I call it a “notion” because, at the moment, it is little more than that. Contrary to the alarm being raised by some citizens, there are no jets ready to roll off the runway in Lawrenceville. Angry citizen activists are storming the courthouse, homeowners’ associations are in a tizzy, and City Councils are issuing proclamations… and all without a clue as to what they are railing against.

Your responsibility as a reasonable Gwinnett resident (and a long-time reader of my newsletter!) is to cut through the hysteria and educate yourself on what will certainly be a contentious public debate with plenty of misinformation to go around.

Your involvement can begin now. There’s a “call to action” at the end of this article, so please read on.

Background

In 2009, a private company approached the county with the idea of selling or privatizing Briscoe Field. The county had received other offers in the past but the proposal from Propeller Investments was unique. First, the company seemed to know what it was doing and had some big names on its board of advisors. More importantly, the Federal Aviation Administration was accepting applications for five slots in its Airport Privatization Pilot Program. From a county press release:

“Congress established the FAA’s Airport Privatization Pilot Program to explore privatization as a means of generating access to various sources of private capital for airport improvement and development. Private companies may own, manage, lease and develop public airports. The Act authorized the FAA to permit up to five public airport sponsors to sell or lease an airport and to exempt the sponsor from certain federal requirements that could otherwise make privatization impractical.”

As fortune would have it, Gwinnett snagged one of the five program slots. The exploration of privatization could move forward.

The county then issued a Request for Qualifications, the next step in the process, to identify firms that had the financial resources and management capability to improve and run Briscoe Field. Three responses were received, including one from Propeller Investments. The other two appeared, in my opinion, to be from shell companies with little substance. Since the RFQ, Propeller has been the most proactive in presenting its vision for Briscoe.

Then the train left the rails. A special grand jury determined that the County Commission had overpaid millions for several tracts of land, oftentimes for no other reason than to benefit friends of a particular Commissioner or to exact political payback on a fellow board member. Chairman Charles Bannister allegedly lied to the grand jury, then resigned abruptly to avoid indictment. District 4 Commissioner Kevin Kenerly was indicted for bribery and failure to disclose his financial interest in some of the deals. Kenerly resigned later under public pressure with just days left in his term.

The remaining Commissioners decided to back-burner talk about the airport until a new Chairman could be elected and take office this month.

Limiting Our Options

D-4 Commissioner John Heard, whose district includes the airport, campaigned against privatization and scheduled service last year and even helped to launch a citizens’ group to oppose it. Immediately upon taking office, Heard announced that he would ask the Commission to remove ticketed service from further consideration. He added a resolution to that effect to the most recent board meeting agenda.

Heard and the other Commissioners subsequently deferred to newly-elected Chairman Charlotte Nash’s request to table a vote until the May 3 meeting. (Commissioners Mike Beaudreau, Lynette Howard and Shirley Lasseter were prepared to defeat Heard’s resolution.) The Commission scheduled the public hearing that will occur this evening, April 28, at 7 pm at 12Stone Church on Buford Drive in Lawrenceville. [Details]

Next Steps

I presently favor privatizing Briscoe Field and am excited about the possibility of catching an AirTran-like regional flight from a small, family-friendly airport just 15 minutes from my home. I was fortunate to be asked to design and host the web site for the “pro-privatization folks” at www.FlyGwinnettForward.com. As a consequence, I have seen pages of research and spent hours exploring the issue on my own. So far, I like what I see.

“Fly Gwinnett Forward” is a group of community leaders who believe that scheduled service at Briscoe would benefit the county and the region in numerous ways. The group is committed to providing you with factual information in a calm and reasoned way. You can read more about these individuals at their site. The group also has a Twitter page at www.twitter.com/flygwinnett and a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/flygwinnettforward.

Regardless of your present opinion, I hope that you, like me, are 100% in favor of our County Commission having as much information in their hands as possible– whether they approve privatization, privatization with scheduled service, or nothing at all.

I share the opinion expressed by numerous community leaders and the Gwinnett Daily Post editorial page:“…the right way to proceed with the Briscoe Field issue is to have a clear idea of what is on the table and the only way to do that is to hear the actual proposals. Until then, people are saying no or yes to the unknown.”

It is extremely interesting to me that the same people who criticize the Commission for failing to make informed decisions and seek public input on recent hot button issues (land deals, garbage transfer stations, baseball stadiums, etc.) now want the Commission to make a decision on airport privatization without full information and without allowing the public to become fully engaged.

We will have plenty of time to discuss very legitimate concerns– added noise, the impact on property values, traffic congestion and more. But it would be irresponsible for the Commission to limit its options before the process even began.

What You Can Do Today

Personally, I do not believe that tonight’s public hearing has much value, as the GDP noted. The Commissioners have specifically asked, however, to hear from citizens who favor a full investigation of the possibilities and an open, spirited debate of substantive issues.

If you can attend tonight’s meeting, please do. You may not be one of the 40-50 citizens who will be able to speak, but your presence says a lot by itself. Whether or not you attend tonight, please go to www.FlyGwinnettForward.com now and select the link at the top of the middle column. You will be able to send the following message to the Commissioners:

“Dear Commissioner, do not limit our options at Briscoe Field! Please issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to collect the info needed to make a decision based on fact and logic. This opportunity is too important to our county to dismiss it prematurely. Thank you for your service.”

Those trying to limit our options at Briscoe are very loud and very angry. It is extremely important that the Commission receive this message from you today. [Go]

While you are at the FlyGwinnettForward site, subscribe to their newsletter. If you’re a Facebook member, check out their page and tell your FB friends about it. You will also find commentary on various issues and rebuttals of the most common arguments against privatization at “A Better Informed Gwinnett.”

I welcome your feedback on this unique opportunity in the comment section of my blog or you can contact me by email at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .