At a joint city-county study session Tuesday on the proposed expansion of the Durango-La Plata County Airport, it became clear that at least some members of the two boards felt the need for more and more inclusive public input.
They were right.
At this point, further movement toward putting a concrete question before the public without a better understanding of what the voters want or would accept would most likely be futile and could be counter-productive. It is time to ask the taxpayers what they think.
City and county officials – including the Airport Commission, the City Council and the county commissioners – have been studying a variety of options to increase the capacity, comfort and convenience of the airport. And rightly so. The current facility is operating beyond its design limits and, at least at times, is overwhelmed. The need is clearly there.
But exactly what is needed, when and at what cost, can and has been debated. What is planning ahead to one person is overreach to another.
After months of meetings with consultants and going over various designs and configurations, the move seems headed toward what is now the “preferred alternative.” A new terminal would be built on the other side of the runway, but in the interest of cost, not as large as future growth in traffic might require. Plans for future expansion would be part of the initial design and future growth could be funded out of airport revenue.
As with any such idea, the plan has a lot of moving parts and a daunting blizzard of numbers. But whatever the merits of the plan, the voters will have to be involved, and the less they know or understand about the thinking behind any airport expansion plan, the more likely they are to reflexively reject it.
It falls to the City Council and the county commissioners not to market the plan, but to explain it and the thinking behind it. That means getting out of their comfort zones.
The county commissioners will hold a public hearing about the airport terminal expansion from 2 to 4 p.m. on March 3 at the La Plata County Courthouse. The Durango City Council will hold a similar hearing at 6:30 on Monday, March 23 in Program Room 1 at Durango Public Library.
Those are good starts, but only just that. If they are serious about putting an airport question on the November ballot – and that appears to be the goal – both boards need to visit voters in Bayfield and Ignacio and across the county, meet with groups outside normal business hours and in unaccustomed places. They should also actively seek out critics and even opponents of the airport expansion – not to win them over, but to let others better understand the issues through give and take.
For their part, taxpayers should also take interest. There are good arguments that a better airport is in everyone’s best interest, but it would also come with a hefty price tag. Go to a meeting or two and ask questions. Insist on answers, but consider the responses.
Then we can have a good, countywide discussion. And maybe even a vote.
