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November 7, 2000
Nancy D. Laney, Airport Grants Administrator Dear Ms. Laney; I read with interest your attached letter to Frank Smigelski, Project Manager at the FAA. I found your letter both very frank and very deflating. It is a well-known fact that the Greenville Municipal Airport is a small and struggling facility in need of better maintenance and repair. I challenge you to find any transportation facility – airport, road, railway, or even snowmobile trail – in Piscataquis County which cannot be accurately labeled in the same manner. Our state and our municipal road systems are in generally poor condition, our railways have seen numerous freight train accidents in recent years due to track failures, and our airport is also in need of repair and better maintenance. In an effort to use our limited funds more wisely, the Town of Greenville contracted with the MDOT, the FAA, and ultimately Dufresne-Henry Engineers to develop our Airport Master Plan Update (AMPU). The results of this update have been to identify not only the “unrealistic” capital improvements you mentioned in your letter, but also the need for a comprehensive, effective maintenance program. To this end, we are developing a better maintenance program and are seeking funding from Piscataquis and Somerset Counties to fund both the maintenance program and the necessary capital improvements. One of the necessary improvements is to clear obstructions from the ends of the runways: brush cutters contracted by the FBO cleared the ends of the main runway this past week. This past September, I was admonished by Jeni O'Bryon of the MDOT to have the runway numbers painted. Having not been done for nearly ten years, this was apparently a pressing concern to the State this year. An unbudgeted expense, the Board of Selectmen approved having this necessary work done, hoping to find other cost savings later in the year. The numbers and the center skip line for both runways were completed in October. We have been told as a municipality for many months now that our airport is in poor shape. Despite our efforts to make necessary improvements, despite the consensus heard today's meeting of the Piscataquis County Commission to find a way to help us to maintain the airport, despite the record turnout we saw at this year's Moosehead Lake International Seaplane Fly-In (see attached article), we are told again today, through your letter, that making a financial commitment of the magnitude cited by Dufresne-Henry to improve the Greenville Municipal Airport is “totally unrealistic”. I feel that your letter to Mr. Smiegelski at the FAA saying that you agree with his assessment that Greenville will not receive the funding described in the AMPU suggests that we do not deserve such funding, that perhaps we do not have the capacity as a regional destination for tourism or business, or simply because we have not kept the facility in adequate condition. I have issue with this, and would like to explain to you why. Despite the poor economic nature of Piscataquis County as a whole, the Moosehead Lake Region, as accessed through the Town of Greenville, is the portion of Piscataquis County which is experiencing the most significant economic growth and expansion in tourism. We have growing interest in our airport as well, with area resorts and lodging establishments asking for development of the airport to allow more visitors to the region who will partake of their services. Various economic indicators show that the economy of Piscataquis County has improved in the past two years, in great part due to the strong national economy, and in part due to regional efforts such as the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC). One of the initiatives of the PCEDC is to help the various Chambers of Commerce in the County to develop a Regional Tourism Marketing Coalition to help focus our efforts to be more sensitive to the overnight visitor to our region, and more appealing to the potential visitor inquiring about the region as a whole, or some specific part. The Moosehead Lake Region is the single most visited portion of Piscataquis County, and is one of the most often visited regions statewide. It is a destination itself. Part of this coalition, the study for which was funded by the State of Maine, focuses on the relationship between Bangor and Piscataquis County. Bangor's strategy is to bring people into their city, and then to send them out to our region for day trips and overnights, and finally to retrieve the visitors back through the City of Bangor. This direction of travel is necessary if you are traveling to Moosehead via passenger airline or (in the future) rail service. Also, the use of I-95 as a necessary East-West Passage makes travel through Bangor to reach the Moosehead Lake region essential in many instances. The State has recognized, as have we, that we must convert our economy in part to a service-based, tourist driven market destination to survive. The development of our airport is an essential portion of the this plan. The State of Maine should not be sending us in this direction, one which necessitates the development of our airport, yet at the same time, discourage funding for necessary improvements to the same airport. I think it is a mistake for the Maine Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration to so quickly dismiss the prospect of Greenville Municipal Airport growing and improving itself, reaching capacity for improvement at the local level, and needing state and federal dollars to move forward. We are devising an action plan which will soon have us at that maximum level locally: we will need the State's help and the FAA's help to realize the necessary capital improvements outlined in our latest AMPU. We are reaching out to you for help: I did not think you would so quickly slap our hand away. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely; Enclosures: CC Frank Smigelski, Project Manager, FAA |