After hearing from airport tenants, businesses, passengers and residents, the Naples Airport Authority agreed it should meet with Naples City Council and the Board of County Commissioners to gather more input on possibly moving the 81-year-old airport.

Authority Chairman Rick Ruppert told Airport Executive Director Chris Rozansky that he’s meeting with Mayor Teresa Heitmann on Sept. 5 and wants to schedule the meetings as soon as possible.

“I’d like to take these findings and at least get aligned with our partners in the community, namely the City Council, the mayor and the Collier County Board of Commissioners, and have a discussion with them face-to-face and see if there are any questions, concerns and what they feel about it,” Ruppert said at the authority’s Aug. 15 meeting.

California-based Environmental Science Associates, which was hired to conduct an exploratory study, suggested four potential sites in eastern Collier County, but construction wouldn’t start for eight to 12 years and a new airport not completed until about 2040, at a cost of $790 million to $1.6 billion.

The proposed locations and distance from the current airport are:

• Site A, east of the county landfill, about nine miles away.
• Site B, the Lipman Family Farms area off U.S. 41, roughly 11 miles away.
• Site C, Sunripe land, south of Oil Well Road, about 23 miles away.
• Site D, Immokalee Regional Airport, about 30 miles away.

A general airport would cost $790 million to $1.2 billion, while a commercial services airport is estimated at $1 billion to $1.6 billion, but those 2024 prices are expected to increase. ESA also considered closing the airport or limiting it to special uses by current tenants: helicopter operations, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, county Emergency Management Services and Mosquito Control.

Naples Airport canopy

ESA’s duties don’t include recommending whether the airport should relocate or close, provide an alternatives analysis or recommend a site.

The Naples Airport, which began in 1943 as a military airfield, is located on roughly one square mile on the west side of Airport-Pulling Road. It’s self-sustaining, uses no taxpayer money and leases most of its 733 acres from the city for $1 yearly while generating $781 million annually for the area, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.

The authority also heard from several who oppose the move.

County Commissioner Dan Kowal, whose district covers the airport and the city of Naples, noted the four potential sites are within the county and the commission is a stakeholder, so he needs to voice constituents’ concerns.

“I’ve had the opportunity to meet hundreds and hundreds of people … and the majority that come up to me really don’t want to see the airport move or close,” Kowal said. “… The amount of revenue that this airport generates for this community … gets put back into the community.”

To get the county commission to agree to a move, he said, would take a supermajority vote, 4-1, and he doubts that is possible because at least three are opposed.

Wave-like canopies represent coastal elements of the Naples Pier at the Naples Airport

Stephen Myers, vice president of Elite Jets, which paid $3.2 million to extend its lease to 2050, said Elite does not support a move and believes the airport should continue its work to reduce noise, the main complaint by residents, who pushed for the move.

“We do appreciate … the processes that are going on to reduce the noise because when it comes down to it, it’s really about noise control,” Myers said, commending the NAA and airport management for a new noise tracking system that provides real data, instead of residents’ complaints.

Elite has worked hard to adhere to prevent flights during the curfew, he said, but some can’t be stopped. As a tenant, he’s against spending money on a study for a move that isn’t practical or financially feasible. Myers, whose background is in emerging technologies, said airplane noise will be greatly reduced in the foreseeable future.

Since 2000, the NAA has invested at least $10 million in noise-abatement efforts recommended by its Noise Compatibility Committee, including a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. voluntary curfew and a ban on Stage 1 and Stage 2 jets, the loudest, which prompted a huge drop in noise complaints.

To move the airport, the NAA would have to prove to the FAA which site is best, that there’s a need to move, and how a new site would affect the Immokalee Regional Airport, Marco Island Executive Airport and Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers. Public hearings before the Board of County Commissioners also would be required.

Airport tenant Christel Johnson, of Paradise Coast Property Team and the treasurer of Friends of Naples Municipal Airport, started a Change.org petition at bit.ly/NaplesAirportPetition to oppose the move, branding it not feasible, and garnered 281 signatures as of this week.

“It is an impossibility and only refuted with this study to demonstrate that,” Johnson said, noting that there are laws protecting airports from restrictions by residents. “We would lose citizens, businesses, jobs. No one who uses our airport has any interest in moving it. They will just move.”

Those who signed it pointed out that nearby residents purchased homes near the airport and that the airport has been there since World War II, longer than most residents, so they should move.