DNHarris
Pre-Flight
Dear pilot friends,
The airspace right-of-way and grasss runway (18/36) at Abrams Municipal Airport 4D0 in Grand Ledge, MI (just west of Lansing) is under threat by the local city council.
There will be an attempt to make a decision on this issue at the next Grand Ledge City Council meeting Monday, February 27th at 7:30 PM. As a pilot and stakeholder of all airports in Michigan, including 4D0, please feel welcome to come voice your opinion and/or support for continued operation as is at our airport, established in 1946.
Please feel free to come to the city council meeting to show your presence in support as a stakeholder of this public access airport, open to all pilots.
The grass strip is used for takeoff and landings by conventional aircraft, by the local traildragger school, the Army Air National Guard, and Michigan State Police for training purposes. The later two entities have stated that preserving the grass strip will continue to reduce overflights and disruption of the primary 9/27 runway.
City Council Meeting
Monday, February 27th
7:30 PM
City Hall
310 Greenwood Street
Council Chambers
Grand Ledge, MI 48837
Supplemental information:
The advisory board was notified last Tuesday or a special meeting to discuss an urgent matter the following night. I am a member of this advisory board.
In essence, the city is looking to eliminate the grass runway (18/36) to eliminate landing/take-off zones which would improve the attractiveness of adjacent non-airport land for further industrial development.
No immediate interest in developing or selling the land was presented before the advisory council, which left us perplexed. I speculated that it may be related to make land adjacent to the airport more attractive as because 1 to 2 miles north of the airport located at and near the intersection of W. Grand River Hwy and M-100 there is a proposed megasite industrial development center. This potential farmland site sale has brought lots of controversy among residents of the area communities. In addition to common controversy in regards to infrastructure concerns additional controversy extends to MSU acting against evidence the farmland bequeathed to Michigan State University for the purpose of building and hosting academic research and instruction in livestock management.
Regardless, the issue at hand at the airport is this has the feel of a hush-and-rush job. No due diligence was done other than a 'what-if, only for the benefit of adjacent land' engineering and airspace analysis created. No outreach was attempted with lease holders of hangers nor the FBO. No qualitative interviews or quantitative surveys were carried out among airport users. The process feels dirty.
Please feel free to come support opposition to the proposed changes. I have a 5 minute speech that will be entertaining and hopefully engaging enough for city council to give, at minimum, a pause to property evaluate the situation.
I've tried share what I know as succinct as possible. But feel free to reach out to me if you have questions.
Best,
Daniel Harris
The airspace right-of-way and grasss runway (18/36) at Abrams Municipal Airport 4D0 in Grand Ledge, MI (just west of Lansing) is under threat by the local city council.
There will be an attempt to make a decision on this issue at the next Grand Ledge City Council meeting Monday, February 27th at 7:30 PM. As a pilot and stakeholder of all airports in Michigan, including 4D0, please feel welcome to come voice your opinion and/or support for continued operation as is at our airport, established in 1946.
Please feel free to come to the city council meeting to show your presence in support as a stakeholder of this public access airport, open to all pilots.
The grass strip is used for takeoff and landings by conventional aircraft, by the local traildragger school, the Army Air National Guard, and Michigan State Police for training purposes. The later two entities have stated that preserving the grass strip will continue to reduce overflights and disruption of the primary 9/27 runway.
City Council Meeting
Monday, February 27th
7:30 PM
City Hall
310 Greenwood Street
Council Chambers
Grand Ledge, MI 48837
Supplemental information:
The advisory board was notified last Tuesday or a special meeting to discuss an urgent matter the following night. I am a member of this advisory board.
In essence, the city is looking to eliminate the grass runway (18/36) to eliminate landing/take-off zones which would improve the attractiveness of adjacent non-airport land for further industrial development.
No immediate interest in developing or selling the land was presented before the advisory council, which left us perplexed. I speculated that it may be related to make land adjacent to the airport more attractive as because 1 to 2 miles north of the airport located at and near the intersection of W. Grand River Hwy and M-100 there is a proposed megasite industrial development center. This potential farmland site sale has brought lots of controversy among residents of the area communities. In addition to common controversy in regards to infrastructure concerns additional controversy extends to MSU acting against evidence the farmland bequeathed to Michigan State University for the purpose of building and hosting academic research and instruction in livestock management.
Regardless, the issue at hand at the airport is this has the feel of a hush-and-rush job. No due diligence was done other than a 'what-if, only for the benefit of adjacent land' engineering and airspace analysis created. No outreach was attempted with lease holders of hangers nor the FBO. No qualitative interviews or quantitative surveys were carried out among airport users. The process feels dirty.
Please feel free to come support opposition to the proposed changes. I have a 5 minute speech that will be entertaining and hopefully engaging enough for city council to give, at minimum, a pause to property evaluate the situation.
I've tried share what I know as succinct as possible. But feel free to reach out to me if you have questions.
Best,
Daniel Harris
