Lawyers Address Concerns Over Proposed Fedex Hub Attorneys Tell Homeowners There Are Ways To Protect Their Rights In The Fight Against A Third Runway And Fedex Hub.

September 30, 1998 - Source: John A. Nagy, Staff Writer

Homeowners upset about the proposed Federal Express hub for Piedmont Triad International Airport turned Tuesday to one of their available options: legal advice.

An attorney representing Indiana homeowners fighting the Indianapolis airport and attorneys with the Greensboro personal injury firm of Donaldson and Black met with more than 300 homeowners in the Western Guilford High School auditorium Tuesday evening.

The meeting was geared more toward delivering information than plotting strategy for fighting the FedEx hub and a third runway that the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority has proposed to accommodate FedEx planes.

Anger, concern and frustration have been building in recent weeks among a number of property owners who live north of the airport and who would be directly affected by the new hub and the accompanying nighttime flights. FedEx has said it initially will fly in at least 22 planes when its $300 million hub opens in 2003.

Marilyn Berger, whose home is in the Edinburgh subdivision off Fleming Road, lives within a mile of what will be the new runway.

"The FedEx planes are going to be big time over my house," said Berger, who attended Tuesday night's meeting. "I have three children, and I'm really concerned about getting them to sleep at night."

The attorneys' advice Tuesday evening boiled down to one simple message: There is little the homeowners can do to stop FedEx from coming but plenty they can do to get federal, state and local airport officials to address concerns about noise, safety and air pollution.

Joseph Hammes, an Indianapolis attorney, is representing a large number of homeowners who live five miles from Indianapolis International Airport and who are seeking compensation for noise from FedEx and other airport operations. He told Greensboro homeowners Tuesday night that their fears are not unfounded.

"You haven't heard noise until you've heard a FedEx cargo plane loaded to the gills launched over your house," he said. "I wish I could say differently."

Airports tend to offer homeowners some money to compensate for the noise, but the deals often don't favor the property owners, Hammes said.

Jeff Peraldo, a Greensboro attorney with Donaldson and Black and a resident of the Cardinal subdivision north of the airport, told homeowners their best recourse for now is to lobby the Federal Aviation Administration as it studies the proposed FedEx hub and third runway.

The Piedmont Triad Airport Authority earlier Tuesday approved a $1 million contract for the second phase of that study, which is being done for the FAA by the consulting firm URS Greiner.

Even if the FedEx hub and third runway are built, Peraldo said, the airport likely will have to spend millions of dollars buying property too close to the runway. Airports in cities such as Cincinnati, Dallas and Los Angeles spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying surrounding neighborhoods when they built new runways.

"There's no reason for me to believe it's going to be any different here," Peraldo said. "We're talking, I think, of hundreds of millions of dollars if those airplanes go flying over those houses.

"If taxpayers know what the real cost is going to be, they'll realize it only makes sense to take a second look at it."

Memo: FEDEX AT A GLANCE

Since its announcement last April, the FedEx project has touched off a sensitive debate within the community over the issues of job growth, land use, economics and homeowners' rights.

FedEx is scheduled to open its hub in 2003 and ultimately bring 1,500 jobs to the airport. The FedEx facility will serve as the company's main hub along the East Coast.

The project has concerned a number of residents who live just north of the airport and who would be in a direct line with the hub and third runway.


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