When life is fair, the Beaufort County Council will adopt the Boys Scouts motto of Be Prepared and take advantage of the look into the future afforded to them last week at the County Aviation Board meeting. Technically I think it is now the Airport Board but that will take some getting used to since they seem to think changing the name will eliminate the petty squabbling they are now doing over living within four miles of an airport, as if that will attract the most qualified candidates. But that is another story for another time.

At the last meeting Wilbur Smith and Associates reviewed their findings and recommendations for the Lady’s Island Airport or whatever they call it, located along highway 21, on of all things Lady’s Island.

When presenting the only thing anyone cared about, the future length of the runway, the representative reviewed three alternatives. One, the ever popular do nothing, spend nothing and let the airport die a slow death. Second, extend the runway over route 21 to 5,000 linear feet which would allow mid-size jets to land, but cost about $48,000,000 because of the need to relocate the roadway. Finally extend the runway to 5,000 feet over 19 acres of marsh for a cost of about $11,000,000. Although they both seem like a lot of money, recognize that the County would probably only be required to pay about .025 percent of the total, the rest funded by the FAA and the State. So we could have the runway extended for about $275,000. Monday, the Council approved new bathrooms at a boat landing for $311,000, albeit from another source of funds.

This runway would ensure current jobs and the economic impact an airport brings, plus from the words of the consultants, probably bring back charter plane businesses that left because of the short runway. This should be a no brainer; we allowed special interests to mitigate many acres of marsh so they could make a fast buck and contribute little or nothing to a sustainable economy.

But my real point in all of this it that the Master Plan study for the much larger economic generating airport, Hilton Head, is currently undergoing its own process and the outcome is sure to produce the same three alternatives at a different cost. According to the consultant, HHI Airport produces about $80,000,000 a year to the local economy and approximately 1,400 industry related jobs, plus it is its own destination point, the money stays here.

 Can we in this day and age allow that to go away by doing nothing because airplanes make noise or should we be preparing now by way of Capital Improvement Funds, Sales Tax initiatives or even non-refundable bonding to be prepared for the future? Thrive or die, which should it be?