Airport overlay district plans moving forward

By Carey Smith and James Baker - Carey Smith and James Baker

This week will be an important milestone for joint planning by the city of Rock Hill and York County, as public presentations -- one held Tuesday night and the next scheduled for Thursday -- roll out modified plans for consistent Airport Overlay Districts in both jurisdictions.

These meetings are important for several reasons. They are an interim step in the process of adopting overlay district ordinances. A number of additional public meetings and public hearings will occur down the road before the planning commissions and the elected officials of both jurisdictions. Without question, these meetings are significant because the purpose of the proposed ordinance is critically important; the topic has generated strong emotions in the communities immediately surrounding the airport; and the proposed modifications reflect a conscious effort to reconcile the concerns of nearby residents with proactive and appropriate land-use planning around the airport.

We already have come a long way in this process, including the elimination of notice requirements for existing residential homeowners and their exemption from sound insulation requirements for home additions. As the modified draft ordinances are presented to the public, we believe residents will see a number of other instances where changes have been made as the result of pubic comments or suggestions during a whole series of community and neighborhood meetings earlier this year.

Still, as the process goes forward, there are a few essential principles we'd like everyone to keep in mind. Airports (both commercial passenger airports and local, general aviation airports) have become an increasingly necessary part of the community transportation infrastructure. This is why the FAA and many state governments across the nation have either strongly recommended or even mandated that land-use compatibility around airports be addressed. We believe it is incumbent upon the city and county to recognize this need and institute consistent and better land-use planning in the area around our airport. The overlay district is the preferred approach since only the land use controls that are needed are applied to property without affecting the basic underlying zoning that already applies to the land.

The concerns of some nearby residents have focused on their objections to elements of the 2004 Airport Master Plan, especially the anticipated need and future plans for a runway extension. The proposed boundaries of the overlay district do factor in these long-range plans for an extended runway, as they should. In other words, distances from the runway to zone boundaries have been calculated as if the proposed runway were already in place. However, the reasons for creating each zone and the allowed uses proposed for each have absolutely no relation to the proposed runway extension. Put another way, even if a runway extension weren't being proposed, the same general zones and land-use compatibility planning would still be indicated. The zones simply wouldn't extend quite as far to the north.

It is understandable that some may choose to oppose the Airport Overlay District in hopes that continued sub-standard zoning practices might somehow derail elements of the airport master plan that they don't like. Certainly, people have the right to oppose the overlay district for whatever reason they choose. Still, it is ironic that some of the same individuals who have been the strongest critics of past zoning practices near the airport are now actually suggesting that the same practices they have criticized should be continued, unchanged. We all know it is not unusual for arguments to be made so that the ends or goals of our actions justify any means we use to achieve them. Unfortunately, inadequate zoning practices are always a disservice to the community, regardless of the motives for continuing them. As we go forward, we hope to focus the entire community on the importance of sound, compatible land-use planning around the airport and address issues regarding future elements in the airport master plan as they arise and as specific actions are proposed.