The other side of the debate over a proposed air strip in Leighton Township is making its case to voters via the mailbox.
About a month after developer Clark Galloway sent a flyer supporting the air strip development, opponents have put together a mailing paid for by the Friends of Leighton Township with the heading, “Protect Our Community, Protect Our Families, Protect Our Land… Vote No!”
Galloway and partner Steve Deer, Leighton Township Supervisor, for the past couple of years have outlined plans to develop a piece of land near 144th Avenue and Kalamazoo Avenue, once owned by Bill and Rita Martin and used as a landing strip for aircraft. Opponents insist the property has been unused for at least five years and an air strip would disturb the rural and agricultural area.
Opponents maintain in the flyer:
“Our township has increased in housing density over the past decade. A private airport just doesn’t fit in today’s Leighton Township. Planes can buzz neighboring property (less than 40 feet in some cases), disturbing businesses, homes and farms that sought out this area for its pastoral landscapes and tranquility…
“It is admitted by all, the airstrip was “unused” for nearly five years. Now, moneyed interests, including Mr. Galloway and Township Supervisor Deer are trying to bootstrap their desire for a busy, unregulated private airport to enhance the profitability of their large housing development by falsely claiming this is an “improvement” to the existing airstrip…
“Under a legal doctrine called “federal pre-emption,” a ‘Yes’ vote will allow Mr. Galloway and Mr. Deer and whoever they choose, to fly in and out as often as they like, any time they like, as low and as loud as they like. Township officials admit that they have no authority to enforce any limits on the air strip. None. Voting ‘NO,’ puts the brakes on this theft of serenity with zero accountability.
“The Leighton Township Planning Commission voted this proposal down (on a 3-2 vote) after over a year of public meetings and careful consideration. They were overruled (4-1) by the Township Board. No one can recall another time when the Planning Commission’s vote was overruled by the Township Board, whose supervisor is a major financial investor in the project…
“Mr. Galloway and Mr. Deer have admitted that they own two more large parcels and rights next to the ‘air strip’ parcels and proposed home sites. A ‘Yes’ vote will allow them to vastly expand the first “plan” to include many more home sites with unfettered use of an airport runway for far more than just a few planes. Vote ‘No’ so that responsible, measured development can proceed, not a land grab by two men, including Supervisor Deer, that allows planes to take over township skies forever.”
When plans for an air strip were first unveiled, neighboring residents protested and appeared frequently before the Planning Commission and Township Board. Galloway scaled down the proposed project considerably over time, from 25 to 4 sites, but opponents have insisted it will ruin the rural and agricultural atmosphere.
Kate Scheltema, perhaps the most vocal of the opponents, has asserted planes flying over her horse farm will negatively impact her riding business and the horses.
Though Deer indeed is a partner in the project, he has refrained from commenting or voting on the issue to avoid any conflict of interest.
The matter will be decided by voters in the Aug. 7 primary election, which was forced by opponents gathering enough signatures of township residents to have a referendum.