Airport Digs Into Wallet For Proposed-Hub Land Piedmont Triad International Airport Pays Higher Price To Settle A Court Caseinvolving Land For The Fedex Hub.

September 29, 2000 - Source: Taft Wireback, Staff Writer

Piedmont Triad International Airport has settled a court fight with a land owner who resisted efforts to condemn his property for possible use by the FedEx hub.

But the airport had to pay Greensboro resident Richard Michaud more than twice the $61,000 it originally offered for his 1.9 acres on Old Oak Ridge Road.

Hub critics took that as a sign PTI's cost projections for the proposed cargo-sorting hub might be way off. But PTI officials said it was simply a matter of expediency in this one case.

"Once you start getting into court, you have a whole new ball game," Ted Johnson, PTI's executive director, said. "You start weighing what it costs to continue in court and what it would cost to settle."

Some hub skeptics believe that PTI's agreement to pay Michaud $132,500 for the undeveloped land has greater significance. They see a sign that estimates of the project's total land costs might be way off, including some $10 million PTI expects to spend in outlying neighborhoods where the hub could cause problems with jet noise.

"It seems apparent that they have underestimated the number of people that are going to put up a fight for their property," said project critic Laura Pollak. "And it seems they have underestimated the true costs."

Michaud did not return a telephone call seeking comment Thursday.

Johnson said the recent settlement is not a good yardstick for judging the project's total land costs, including houses in outlying neighborhoods burdened by jet noise.

PTI used its power to condemn land in buying out Michaud, as it did in buying some other parts of roughly 125 acres needed for its preferred hub site, Johnson said. It paid a total of about $8.5 million for that land, much of which the federal government may reimburse, he said.

But Johnson said that it cannot condemn houses in outlying neighborhoods with jet-noise problems, where PTI estimates it will spend $10 million for "noise mitigation" required to develop the hub. Ideally, PTI would reach negotiated settlements with home owners in those areas without a lawsuit, the PTI director said.

He said that PTI already has succeeded in reaching such settlements with a number of home owners immediately northwest of the airport, an area likely to be affected by hub noise.

FedEx Corp. hopes to build a $300 million cargo hub at PTI and open it in five years. The building would operate at peak intensity overnight, when FedEx planes would land with packages from cities throughout the eastern United States.

The packages would be sorted, then reloaded on planes bound for their destinations. The planes would take off in the early morning, raising worries among residents such as Pollak about sleep lost to the noise of ascending jets.

Because of that and other environmental issues, the project has been controversial since it was announced in April 1998. It is being studied by the Federal Aviation Administration in an environmental review scheduled to be finished this spring.

The hub is supported by many in the Triad, especially business leaders who see it as a hedge against job losses in industries that traditionally have been the region's economic base, especially textiles.

They argue that the hub should not have a devastating impact on surrounding neighborhoods but could attract many new businesses and provide greater opportunity for existing companies.

Michaud and neighboring land owner Kent Urbine stepped into the controversy this spring when they resisted PTI's effort to buy their land as part of FedEx's preferred hub site.

They contended the airport was using its power of condemnation in an unconstitutional way by taking their property to benefit a private company.

A judge ruled PTI was within its powers after the airport established that the land fit into its growth plans regardless of whether FedEx ultimately puts its new building there.

Urbine is still battling PTI in court and said that he does not plan to settle. PTI has offered $198,000 for his 2.3-acre home on Old Oak Ridge Road.

"They don't even have an approved project yet," Urbine said. "Tearing houses down before anything is even done, that just doesn't make sense."

PTI director Johnson said that, with the Michaud purchase, the airport has virtually all the land it needs for the hub building, except for Urbine's land. Michaud and PTI settled in court-ordered mediation.

Michaud's attorney, Jeffrey Peraldo of Greensboro, said his client's settlement was based solely on the costs of continuing to appeal PTI's earlier court victory.

"It says nothing about the viability of the appeal," Peraldo said.


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