200 Attend Wilsonville City Council Public Forum on Proposed Aurora State Airport Expansion

City Council Chambers packed for public forum on Aurora State Airport runway extension

November 29, 2018 — A special meeting of the Wilsonville City Council held on Nov. 27 to discuss the proposed expansion of the Aurora State Airport drew a standing-room audience of 200 attendees. A total of 53 citizens testified during the three-hour-long public forum, including area residents, business managers and elected officials who presented a wide range of divergent views on the proposed $37 million grant application to by the Oregon Department of Aviation (ODA) to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to extend the airport runway from 5,000 to 6,000 feet.

The City Council is holding the record open until Monday, Dec. 3, 10 am, allowing members of the public to submit additional testimony that may be emailed to cityrecorder@ci.wilsonville.or.us or mailed to City Hall, 29799 SW Town Center Loop East, Wilsonville, OR 97070. A compilation of the testimony and a hearing transcript is scheduled to be posted online by Friday, Dec. 7, at ci.wilsonville.or.us/AuroraStateAirport.

The City Council seeks to compile a record of public testimony to be presented for consideration by state legislators and the Governor, members of the Oregon Congressional delegation and the FAA prior to prospective retroactive approval of the runway extension by the legislature’s Joint Emergency Board during “Legislative Days” in Salem to be held December 12-14.

The proposed project has generated significant interest and varying perspectives regarding the potential merits, benefits, and impacts, of the proposed runway extension. While located near but not under the jurisdiction of the City of Wilsonville, neither the Aurora State Airport sponsoring agency ODA nor the local-government land-use authority of Marion County has held a public hearing on the proposed airport expansion. Since the public has had only limited opportunity to provide comment to government officials on this current proposal, the City Council sought to provide a public forum that advances Oregon’s Statewide Planning Goal One, Citizen Involvement.

For more information, contact Mark Ottenad, Public/Government Affairs Director, at 505-570-1505; ottenad@ci.wilsonville.or.us.

Community members can watch a replay of all or a portion of the City Council meeting on Comcast/Xfinity Ch. 30, Frontier Ch. 32 or on the City’s video-on-demand service at www.ci.wilsonville.or.us/WilsonvilleTV.

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