Journal & Topics Media Group

As Runway Talk Lingers, Airport Says Don’t Worry


Chicago Executive Airport control tower as seen on Aug. 30, 2014.

Wanting to remove the “drama and politics” from conversations about Chicago Executive Airport’s ongoing Master Plan Update, airport board Director Jim Kiefer told Prospect Heights aldermen it remains possible nothing will be built outside of the airport’s boundaries after the study process is complete in future years.

Kiefer, one of three Prospect Heights representatives on the board that’s shared with airport co-owner village of Wheeling, pointed to a revamped website, new fact sheet that’s being circulated, and an open house set for July 11 as a next step in the Master Plan Update.

“It is a moot point talking about any runway expansion…it is just so far in the future,” he told aldermen during the city council’s monthly update on CEA operations Monday night.

But a group of local residents remains concerned over possible plans to one day extend the airport’s main runway. The summary of a Nov. 13, 2018 master plan Stakeholder Involvement Group workshop outlines comments by public officials and airport users and includes maps showing runway extension “alternatives” that may or may not one day come to fruition. Three of those maps show the airport’s main 5,000-ft. runway extending south of Palatine Road toward Mount Prospect’s far northern border with Prospect Heights.

The residents aired similar concerns at a recent Mount Prospect Village Board meeting. Chairman of the airport board D. Court Harris, in a letter to the Journal, says: “Let me be indisputably clear: there is no current resolution or vote in front of the CEA Board of Directors or the municipalities of Wheeling and Prospect Heights to extend any runway of the Chicago Executive Airport.”

“Somebody will be here…it will impact somebody at sometime,” Ald. Scott Williamson (3rd) said of the master plan during Kiefer’s presentation Monday.

Kiefer said the master study is mandated by the FAA to develop a thought process on where the airport “wants to go” in the future. In his letter, Harris described the process a similar to when a municipality updates its comprehensive plan. For the airport, it is designed to ensure the “safety, longevity and financial viability of this community asset for the next 20-30 years.” It’s end result will be an airport layout plan, of which airport co-owners Wheeling and Prospect Heights will be able to “pick and choose” from, Kiefer told aldermen.

The last master plan update was conducted in 1984. The study process is looking at all aspects of the airport, not just runways, with 95% of the study costs being paid for by the FAA.

Residents most affected by the airport still want their voices heard, and spoke to city leaders at the end of Monday’s near three-hour council meeting.

Steve Neff, a resident of Wheeling who serves on the airport’s noise committee, said he became aware of the master plan when a possible runway extension was first mentioned in 2014.

“Now is the time to make residents aware,” he told Prospect Heights city leaders. Neff pointed to 1,000 signatures his group, Citizens Against Runway Expansion, gathered for an upcoming advisory referendum in Wheeling on runway expansion.

Mount Prospect resident Karen Giambalvo commented that any possible runway extension would not benefit the village. She urged city leaders to choose the “do nothing” option when it comes to runways. She also said most residents she knows had no knowledge about a master plan update.

Gregg Shriber of Mount Prospect said airport expansion uncertainties are keeping his property values down. Another Mount Prospect resident asked aldermen, why not take a firmer stance against possible runway expansion now.

According to the airport, a “no-build” runway alternative will be included in the Master Plan Update. Remaining are more stakeholder meetings, a public meeting, development of a “preferred development concept report” by this fall and a final airport layout plan.

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