By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

South Portland City Councilor Linda Boudreau said she’s “nervous” about a proposed $76 million expansion of the Portland Westbrook Municipal Jetport. The aspect of the proposed expansion that most concerns her is the extension of one of the jetport’s two runways more than 1,000 feet deeper into the city, she said.

“Moving the runway means you’re starting to get that much closer to our neighborhoods,” Boudreau said. “Stroudwater has struggled with this noise issue for a long time.”

Despite her concerns, Boudreau said she would most likely support proposed amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance to accommodate the jetport’s plans during Wednesday’s city council meeting, scheduled after the Sentry deadline. City Planner Tex Haueser said one amendment would change several portions of the jetport property to Light Industrial, or IL – the same zone as National and Fairchild Semiconductor buildings – and another would add several permitted uses to the IL zone to accommodate the jetport expansion.

“I’m voting for this because I’m a really optimistic person,” she said. “This is about economic development. The greater Portland area isn’t going to thrive if we don’t have airplanes flying in and out of here. It’s one of the curses and the blessings of living in this area.”

Other improvements to the jetport property on the South Portland portion of the parcel include a new taxi lane and de-icing facility, Jetport Director Paul Bradbury said. 

The new taxi lane will increase efficiency for freight aircraft and the de-icing facility will bring the jetport into compliance with upcoming Department of Environmental Protection standards, Bradbury said. 

“We will be required to capture all de-icing fluid by the fall of 2010,” he said. 

Currently, de-icing fluid, consisting of Propylene Glycol, is used to prevent ice from forming on the wings of aircraft, then runs into the Fore River, Bradbury said. The fluid runoff could create severe environmental problems if the river was a small, freshwater stream rather than a saltwater river leading to the ocean, Bradbury said. 

“[Propylene Glycol is] not a toxic chemical at all. It’s actually in my kids’ toothpaste,” he said. “It uses oxygen to dissipate and we will be required to capture it basically so that when it degrades it doesn’t compete with the fish [for oxygen].”

Together, the de-icing facility, new taxi lane and runway extension will cost an estimated $8.2 million, Bradbury said. He said the jetport is eligible for $2.5 million in federal stimulus dollars – funding the jetport would match with money raised through ticket sales, he said. 

“For each ticket sold we can collect up to $4.50 as a passenger facility charge, [or PFC],” Bradbury said. “If we don’t charge that PFC, multiple other airports are allowed to charge it and it can be as high as $18. We should be levying it just so [John F. Kennedy International Airport] doesn’t have to.”

Passenger facility charge revenue cannot be used for projects outside the airport although the Portland City Council must approve any spending, Bradbury said. The Portland City Council already approved $6 million devoted to designing an 80,000-square-foot expansion for the airport terminal – located in Portland – which will nearly double the size of the facility, Bradbury said. 

“We see about half of our total volume between 5 and 6 in the morning,” Bradbury said. “We need more lanes at that security checkpoint.”

The Portland City Council may have approved funding to design the terminal upgrade, but Bradbury said a 3 - 3 vote by the Portland Planning Board earlier this month could potentially delay construction until June, he said.

“There were some concerns about traffic mitigation and the possibility of incorporating a trail,” Bradbury said of the planning board’s decision. “We’ll be back to the planning board in May. It’s a sign that the public process works.”

Should the council approve the zone change for the jetport property, the runway extension, de-icing facility and taxi lane projects will be subject to site review by the South Portland Planning Board, Boudreau said. 

A majority of South Portland planning board members, although in favor of the zone change, voiced concerns similar to those brought up by Portland Planning Board members during final approval of the zoning amendments last month.

“The airport is trying as best they can to work on things,” Boudreau said. “We’ll just have to keep an eye on that area.”

Staff Writer Nate Jones can be contacted at 282-4337 ext. 233.