Friday, September 01, 2000
Councilmen: Jet firm overreacts
Executive Jet Management threatens to leave Lunken
By Robert Anglen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Cincinnati company is threatening to take 170 jobs elsewhere if Cincinnati City Council won't lift its ban on development at Lunken Airport.
Executive Jet Management officials said Thursday that if the city won't approve the charter jet company's expansion plans, they will move operations to the Hamilton/
Fairfield Airport in Butler County or the Cincinnati/
Northern Kentucky International Airport.
The company also took out a full-page ad in Thursday's Enquirer asking residents to help the company by calling council members and urging support.
“If delays continue, Executive Jet Management will be forced to leave Lunken Airport and relocate to another city in the region,” the ad said.
But council members said Thursday they think company officials are lighting a fire where one didn't need to be lit.
“It's wholly unnecessary and somewhat reactionary,” Councilman Todd Portune said of the ad. “They are jumping the gun.”
Responding to resident complaints about noise and growth at Lunken, council on Aug. 2 approved a 30-day development moratorium to create a citizen-based advisory group that will oversee airport operations.
Although the ban is supposed to expire, company officials said problems in creating the advisory group could extend the deadline longer than 30 days.
“The purpose of the ad is to say that jobs are in jeopardy,” said Executive Jet spokeswoman Kathy Tyler.
She said the company, which has operated at Lunken for 23 years, negotiated for months with city administrators over a new location. After a deal was reached, she said, officials agreed to move out of the current space by August 2001.
If construction doesn't begin soon, it won't be finished in time.
She said the expanded facility at Lunken would provide jobs for 170 current employees and 70 new employees over the next three years.
But the company is also fielding offers from airports in Hamilton and Kentucky, where the new facility would be cheaper to maintain, Ms. Tyler said.
“They are expressing legiti mate concerns,” Councilman Pat DeWine said Thursday. “I am always concerned about losing jobs.”
He said council is trying to strike a balance between neighborhood concerns and airport users such as Executive Jet.
Councilman Phil Heimlich, who co-sponsored the moratorium with Mr. Portune, said Thursday the issue will be worked out.
“We've all been working toward the same thing: that is, preserving Lunken as a friendly neighborhood airport,” he said. “Our first concern is preserving a high quality of life in the neighborhoods.”
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