Why I am against Aurora Airport expansion proposals
The Aurora Airport is not inside our city boundaries, but it has been an integral part of the Wilsonville community since 1943. We are proud to have LifeFlight headquartered within Wilsonville, providing life-saving support out of the airport for many years. We are also proud of Columbia Helicopter which responds to wildfires and other disasters nationwide. Many of our neighbors and friends are small plane pilots who fly out of Aurora. My uncle, an avid aviation enthusiast, flies in and out of small airports like the Aurora Airport all the time.
Now airport developers and land speculators are trying to turn it into something else — longer runways, larger jet aircraft with the potential for an air freight hub, and more overflights for Wilsonville neighborhoods especially Charbonneau, Daydream, and Meadows. This threatens vital farmland, and our environment. And of course, any expansion of operations at the Aurora Airport will mean increased vehicle traffic on the critical Boone Bridge. The worst part of the current Aurora Airport Master Planning process has been the lack of transparency from the Oregon Department of Aviation (ODAV). I saw a similar pattern of behavior from some of the public agencies I dealt with while investigating the Kinder Morgan Pipeline. With respect to the airport, impacted communities have been intentionally shut out of discussions on this proposed expansion.
As a Wilsonville resident, I have been dismayed by some of the tactics taken by ODAV and other proponents of the proposed Aurora Airport expansion.I attended a recent Aurora Airport Master Plan Open House that most residents of Wilsonville only learned about thanks to a postcard sent out by our city. The only expansion options they presented encouraged larger and heavier aircraft to land and take off at Aurora Airport, resulting in more pollution, noise, and nuisance impacts. The State of Oregon, as owner of the airport runway, does not charge ANY landing fees at this airport, which encourages increased use by aircraft such as private jets looking to avoid the significant landing fees and restrictions associated with landing at PDX when flying to the Portland area. The number one source of revenue for the Oregon Department of Aviation is aviation fuel tax which would obviously increase from additional fuel usage at this airport.
Leaders from impacted communities should be very concerned about the disregard that expansion enthusiasts and ODAV have shown our communities by restricting our participation and ignoring our input.
The bottom line: I pledge to oppose this unbalanced airport master planning process as your candidate. As your mayor, I will continue to fight overreaching governmental agencies that want to silence our residents from having a say on expanding a facility that so greatly impacts our health, safety and livability.
