43-Year Tweed Deal Wins Final Approval

Lauding the prospect of more jobs, fewer government subsidies, and an environmentally conscious approach to developing a larger airport, the Board of Alders Thursday night unanimously approved a new 43-year agreement between the city and Tweed’s airport authority.

Local legislators took that vote Thursday night during a regular bimonthly meeting of the full Board of Alders. The meeting took place in person in the Aldermanic Chambers on the second floor of City Hall.

After roughly 20 minutes of deliberations, during which several alders spoke about how ​“the pros outweigh the cons” when it comes to promoting a larger regional airport, the alders unanimously voted in support of a new amended and restated lease and operating agreement between the city and Tweed New Haven Airport Authority.

The 43-year deal that won final approval Thursday night is identical to the amended version that the Independent first reported on on Tuesday.

Some of the terms of the final deal include:

• The extension of the airport authority’s $1‑per-year lease of the city-owned airport land through June 30, 2064.

• The extension of the airport’s main runway from 5,600 feet to 6,635 feet long, as first spelled out in the airport’s master plan.

• The construction of a new four-to-six-gate passenger terminal and a new parking garage on the East Haven side of the airport property.

• The phasing out of the city’s annual operating subsidy of Tweed. This fiscal year will see the operating subsidy stay at $325,000. Next year, it will drop to $162,500. The year after that, and going forward, the city will not pay any operating subsidy to the airport authority.

• Mandatory check-ins and performance reviews between the city and the airport authority every 10 years.

• Mandatory annual community meetings between the airport authority and alders from surrounding neighborhoods. Those meetings must be open to the public, and allow for public comment.

• The creation of an Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee consisting of three New Haven residents and three East Haven residents, and to be staffed by New Haven’s Engineering Department.

• The requirement that the airport authority and airport management company study and, to the extent feasible, implement a passenger carbon offset program.

• A $5 million investment towards mitigating traffic, noise, and environmental concerns in surrounding neighborhoods.

The newly inked deal tees up the airport authority to strike a separate 43-year ​“facility” agreement with Avports, the Goldman Sachs-owned airport management company that has promised to invest $70 million of its own funds into building a new terminal on the East Haven side of the property and lengthening the airport’s runway in a bid to attract new passenger air service.

“Pros Outweigh The Cons”

During their deliberations on the matter, alders underscored the potential economic benefits of a larger airport — and the less-than-ideal conditions of the existing airport.

“The airport is not going away,” East Rock Alder Anna Festa said Thursday night as she explained to her colleagues why she would be voting in support of the deal. ​“So we either take advantage of someone else’s money to invest into it, or we would have to do something ourselves to invest in this airport.”

Downtown/Yale Alder Eli Sabin urged his colleagues to support the agreement for three reasons: jobs, taxes, and the environment.

A larger airport will both employ more New Haveners and attract new business to the city, he said. The current deal cuts the city’s annual $300,000-plus subsidy to the airport, freeing up those public dollars for more pressing needs. And the deal includes a requirement for the airport authority and Avports to at least study a passenger carbon offset program, in an effort to reduce the larger airport’s contributions to climate change and air pollution.

“I think if we don’t invest in economic development and jobs,” Sabin added, ​“we’ll never be able to rally the community around the type of changes to our society and our economy that we need to achieve reductions in our emissions. I think that with this project, overall, the pros outweigh the cons, and it will be a significant improvement to the current situation.

Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola, who represents the ward where the airport sits and who introduced on Thursday night the sole amendment to the ultimately approved agreement, said that the deal mandates a ​“working relationship” among the city, the airport authority, and Avports.

The agreement will take the financial burden of Tweed off of city taxpayers’ backs, he said. ​“The city has a working relationship with the authority and Avports. We will be working with them on a very good basis going forward. They want to be a good neighbor. Well, we’re going to make sure they’re good neighbors.”

Despite some outspoken opposition, he said, many of his constituents want a larger airport. He said he was voting in support of the deal Thursday night for them.

“We couldn’t be happier. It’s a unanimous vote,” said Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon. ​“That would not have been the case a few weeks ago. But our team has worked really hard with these alders and the community to get this package in a much better place from their perspective. It shows that we want to be good neighbors, we want to be partners with the city. I think the unanimous vote tonight reflects that they agree that we’ve met that standard.”

Roberts agreed. ​“We’re very excited for the trust that the Board of Alders has put in the authority and ourselves.” He said the expanded airport will bring new jobs, and that Thursday’s vote continues a ​“partnership that will bring new destinations and develop the airport in a way that it deserves for the benefit of the community.”

“Amendment Didn’t Go Far Enough”

A handful of airport expansion critics watched Thursday’s vote with dismay from the back pews of the Aldermanic Chambers.

“It’s disappointing,” said Republican mayoral candidate and City Point resident John Carlson. ​“We all want to fly cheaply to Florida,” but not at the cost of this 43-year deal.

When asked about some of the terms of the amendment designed to mitigate the expanded airport’s carbon footprint — including the carbon offset program study — Carlson said, ​“The amendment didn’t go far enough.”

Click here, here, and here for previous stories about the lease and operating agreement, and here, here and here about Tweed’s expansion plans.