Ridgefield Press
SKY NOISE: Anti-FAA funds will face voters Wednesday

Feb 2, 2008

Voters will decide next Wednesday whether Ridgefield will join the area fight against a plan to reroute New York airport traffic overhead.

If voters approve spending $70,000 to join the Alliance for Sensible Airspace Planning, Ridgefield will join more than a dozen Fairfield County towns in the effort to change the Federal Aviation Authority’s proposed airspace redesign. The aviation agency has already approved the redesign, but not yet adopted it.

First Selectman Rudy Marconi said he hopes voters at the town meeting will approve the cost of joining the battle.

“It’s for legal representation, lobbying and a grass-roots effort,” he said. “If we don’t have a seat at the table, we have no right to complain later.”

The Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance have already voted to approve the money for Ridgefield to join the airspace alliance, but the appropriation must also be approved by voters at a town meeting.

The selectmen will hold a public hearing on the matter immediately before the town meeting vote.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6, in the lower level conference room of town hall.


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