Pa. airport group to hire consultant on land sale

Associated Press

ALLENTOWN, Pa.

An eastern Pennsylvania airport authority is hiring a consultant to determine how much land it should sell to help pay off a $26 million court judgment over land taken from developers in the early 1990s.

The Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority is trying to determine which of the airport’s 2,600 acres in property and assets are vital. The board had formed its own panel to evaluate airport assets but later decided to hire a consultant.

The move comes as a 14-year court battle over the taking of the property that was to be the Willow Brooks Estates housing development is set to conclude, with a Nov. 28 trial in Lehigh County Court to determine how long the airport has to pay the bill.

Perhaps the most valuable property other than the main airport is 210-acre Queen City Airport in Allentown, home to about 100 private airplane owners and near Interstate 78. Mayor Ed Pawlowski said a sale could bring $20 million to $40 million, erasing the debt overnight and spurring development that could bring the city jobs and investment.

Authority chairman David Haines said, however, that the former military field was deeded to Allentown in 1948, and if it is closed, the airport must be relocated or the land reverts back to the Federal Aviation Administration. The mayor said a waiver could be requested, but Haines said that could take years, and he doesn’t want the private planes moved to the main airport.

Seventy-three-acre Braden Airpark could also bring in a lot of money, but Haines said the authority would have to repay $2.9 million in FAA grants, and millions more it has taken to make improvements.