Morristown Airport expansion push causes turbulence
500 petitioners furious about hangar, tarmac plan

05-Oct-2006
by Navid IQBAL, Daily Record


HANOVER -- Anger is growing among 500 petitioners and some officials over plans to build a 100,000-square-foot hangar with a 300,000-square-foot tarmac at Morristown Airport. The project would require filling in 8.5 acres of wetland.

Verizon and Tri-State Volvo would need several permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection before they could proceed with their plans. Morristown Airport also is applying for a permit to fill in 5 acres of wetlands, according to township officials.

The proposed aircraft hangar, tarmac and a 2-acre parking lot would fit on 9 acres in the corner of the airport's property near the intersection of Columbia Turnpike and Algonquin Parkway, according to copies of the plan that were given to the township engineering department late last month.

The plan would require, among other authorizations, a freshwater wetlands permit and a stream encroachment permit.

Tri-State Volvo would pay for the hangar and tarmac, which then would be leased by Verizon.

According to the application to the DEP, Verizon wants to build the hangar because it has moved or will be moving "a signification portion of their operations" to their quarters in Basking Ridge, which has about 3,500 workers with a payroll of $500 million.

Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg also moved nearby. He bought a $1.2 million condominium in Morris Township in 2005, according to Morris County property records.

Verizon has a fleet of 10 corporate jets in five hangars throughout the country, including at Teterboro Airport. According to this year's proxy statement, an annual meeting notice sent to shareholders, Verizon's top five executives spent $350,000 using the company's aircraft. The top executives use the aircraft for business and personal travel "for security reasons," according to the statement.

The company says the construction of the new hangar would help reduce fuel burdens.

'Disregard' of laws

The permits being sought are governed by the federal Clean Water Act, the state Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act and the Flood Area Control Act. In a letter to the state DEP drafted by town attorney Fred Semrau of Dorsey & Semrau, township officials said the applications represent an "absolute disregard" of those laws.

"This application is not for a public need, it is an example of corporate greed," said Committeeman Len Fariello.

Fariello has led the township's charge against the permit application. The wetlands area located near the Black Meadows has been identified as a home to the endangered bog turtle and an endangered plant called the swamp pink, according to Verizon's and Tri-State's permit application.

The Black Meadows also have been identified as places for open space preservation, Fariello said.

"It is pointless to have wetlands, water and flood protection regulations if the regulations can be so easily manipulated and permits such as these approved," Fariello said.

500 sign petition

Five hundred residents of Hanover, Florham Park, Madison and other towns neighboring the airport signed a petition clamoring against the permit application, which will be sent to the DEP this week, according to Sam Marks of Whippany, who began the petition drive.

"It started of as a teeny, tiny airport for weekend fliers,"Marks said, "and now they've gotten to the point where they have customs agents."

Marks and others believe the timing of the application --approximately 12 days before Wednesday's announcement that Morristown Airport could get increased air traffic from Teterboro Airport -- indicates that the airport plans to expand yet again.

"This will not only desecrate the natural habitat, reduce the catchments area where fresh water is received, but will obviously set the stage for a future increase in airline traffic in this quiet community," said Marks, who has lived in the area for 45 years.

No Teterboro link

Morristown Airport director William Barkhauer said Teterboro Airport's decision to cut certain flights and Verizon and Tri-State Volvo's application to build the new hangar are not related.

"This does not constitute what we would consider an expansion," he said.

Barkhauer described the airport's application as part of a "routine repaving project."

Marks scoffed, then called on the residents of surrounding communities to press their municipal officials for a town-hall style meeting about the airport.