Airport projects approved but nearby church receives assurance

Plans to expand the Oconee County Airport and reroute a nearby road will go forward, but members of the Mt. Nebo Baptist Church were assured Tuesday that neither these plans nor foreseeable future plans will affect the 131-year-old church. The County Council approved by a vote of 3-1 to award J. Davis Construction the $2.1 million contract to prepare the expansion of the airport’s West Terminal apron and the work involved in rerouting Mt. Nebo Road into Shiloh Road. District 5 Council member Glenn Hart voted against the contract and Council chairman Julian Davis recused himself from the vote. The apron expansion, according to county officials, will expand the aircraft parking space on high traffic days. The road rerouting, they say, is necessary because the county is in violation of Federal Aviation Administration requirements for minimum heights above road traffic of aircraft approach and takeoff paths for planes arriving on Runway 7 and departing on Runway 25. The road rerouting has brought complaints in recent days who about the air traffic near the church. Paula Henderson, clerk of Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, spoke for the congregation in asking what future plans the county had for the airport five and ten years ahead and if the church would be affected. So far, Henderson said, the church had been told nothing. Council chairman Julian Davis assured Henderson that no current or foreseen plans would affect the church. Davis agreed on behalf of the Council to meet with the church congregation at some future date to discuss the issues. Council members Hart and District 2 Councilmember Wayne McCall echoed the church members’ concerns that the process had not had enough “transparency.” County administrator Amanda Brock acknowledged that the county had failed to publicize the plans enough, but that the public hearing and initial approval to set the project in motion had taken place in August 2018, with the Council approving the action unanimously.