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The
town of North Elba plans to use a state Department of Transportation
grant in order to build a jet fuel storage tank at the Lake Placid
Airport.
At
Tuesday’s regular town board meeting, Supervisor Roby Politi said
he’s received a number of bids from companies interested in building
a 12,000-gallon tank for the purpose of storing and dispensing jet
fuel.
The
town received a grant in 2006 for $260,000. The council can consider
either a 12,000 or 9,000-gallon tank. In any case, Politi said
there’s significant revenue potential in jet fuel sales.
Politi also noted the grant expires in April, but the town can apply
for an extension.
Councilman Derek Doty said the Lake Placid Horse Shows would offer
significant revenue opportunities, but he did express some
reservations that North Elba would take sales away from Harrietstown
and the Adirondack Regional Airport.
“On
the flip side, it will affect Adirondack Regional, and it could
affect them very seriously,” Doty said.
Larry
Miller is supervisor for the town of Harrietstown.
“Derek did call me as a courtesy and
let me know they were in the process of going through with this,” he
said. “And of course, we were aware because I had seen the
advertisement in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.”
Miller added that it would have a
serious impact on sales at the Lake Clear airport.
“We live or die on the sales we get
during the timeframes of the Horse Show, it’s our busiest time of
the year,” he said. “If they sell jet fuel it’s very possible it
could adversely affect Adirondack Regional.”
Both Miller and Doty have discussed
the issue at some length. Miller says the two talked about having
the two boards get together to discuss shared services regarding the
two airports.
“In the past we’ve had discussions
with the North Elba board about maybe developing an authority,” he
said. “I know there was once a loosely-tied authority between all of
the townships back in the 1980s where it was sort of like a
governing body that decided what happened in Lake Clear.”
Doty and the North Elba Town Council
all noted that the Lake Placid Airport is a fair-weather facility.
-Chris
Morris, 3-12-10
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