The Leighton Township Planning C
ommission has recommended denial for a request for an ar strip, but the issue now will go before the Township Board May 22 or 23 in a special public hearing.
The Planning Commission was reported to be deadlocked on its vote in February, but Wednesday evening took up the issue again. The public hearing will get under way at 6 p.m. on either day, which is a Monday or a Tuesday.
The proposed air strip, near the corner of 144th Avenue and Kalamazoo Avenue, includes Leighton Township Supervisor Steve Deer, who is a partner with developer Clark Galloway in the proposed project and will not be voting on the matter. He has steadfastly excused himself to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Galloway first presented his proposal more than a year ago and since then has revised his plans scaled down from the original. His first revision reduced the size of the air strip and the most recent one, Dec. 14, was an attempt to avoid having planes disturb nearby residents, particularly a horse farm.
Neighbors of the old air strip, owned by Bill and Rita Martin, but now dormant, have been persistent and vocal in their opposition for safety and noise reasons. They also have contended the old Martin property had been abandoned for some time and wasn’t used for private planes any more,
Some Planning Commission meetings taking up the issue have drawn as many as 100 citizens, though not all of them are opposed to the project.
Many opposed to the most recent scaled-down plans said they still believed plane engines’ noise from 6 a.m. to about 10:30 p.m. seven days a week during warmer weather is excessive.
Kate Scheltema, owner of the nearby horse farm, has disputed the promise that planes will be fly as much as 800 feet above the ground.
The first plan submitted about a year ago included 15 home sites on a 3,000-foot airstrip for use by as many as 25 planes. Galloway’s second proposal scaled it back to four housing lots and a 2,100-foot grass airstrip, with a maximum of five planes on site.
The most recent proposal scaled the strip down to 1,800 feet and an attempt to avoid Scheltema’s horse farm.
