Coeur d’Alene Airport/Pappy Boyington Field is a fixed, immovable asset. It is also economically vital to Kootenai County.

The well-written Airport Master Plan and Airport Layout Plan, presumably approved by the county commissioners, incorporate future improvements including the extension of Runway 05/23. Without these improvements, future options for the airport will be limited and safety of flight operations jeopardized.

Which should take precedence: the airport or the future Heutter Corridor and Ramsey Road extension? From merely an economic standpoint, the airport gets the nod. So what’s the problem?

The real issue is not travel corridors and road extensions — each can be adjusted very easily. It is housing development and quick profits. A drive past the airport shows developers salivating for the property necessary for the runway expansion and safety impact zones. For the few hundred acres of potential houses, the county commissioners, Hayden’s development director and KMPO’s executive director are willing to sacrifice the future viability of the airport. How many houses would have to be built to reach the $130 million economic impact generated each and every year by the airport?

Without Greg Delavan it is likely the developers will hold sway and the airport will be forever relegated to a lesser, if not minor, role in Kootenai County’s future.

Airports have changed. No longer are they a level field close to a small town where enterprising pilots offer rides. However, politics have not changed. This brouhaha may not rise to the level of the 1920s Teapot Dome scandal but it is a mini version.

FRED EBEL

Post Falls