By Rich Bockmann
The Port Authority has modified a runway rehabilitation plan at JFK Airport that would have brought planes in lower over areas of southeast Queens and required perhaps as many as 800 trees to be removed from Idlewild Park.
New federal regulations mandate that airports provide safety areas at the ends of runways for aircraft that come in short on landings, run long on takeoffs or veer off the runways.
In response to a preliminary plan the Port Authority put out last year to rehabilitate a runway directly across from Idlewild Park, the city Parks Department tagged more than 700 trees in the spring it said would either have to be pruned or taken down if the agency got the thumbs up for its plan.
In a revised assessment released last week, however, the Port Authority scrapped parts of the plan that would have brought planes in lower over Queens.
“If the project described in the May 2012 Draft EA were to be implemented, up to 800 trees in Idlewild Park would have required removal to comply with FAA standards,” the 430-page revised draft environmental assessment read. “In order to minimize the number of trees to be removed from Idlewild Park, the Port Authority made the decision to redefine the proposed project.”
The initial plan called for runway safety areas at either end of Runway 22R/4L, which runs in a northeast/southwest direction between Jamaica Bay and Idlewild Park.
But because the southern end of the runway abuts the Gateway National Recreation Area, the rehab plan would have shifted a number of the runway’s design elements to the north, closer to Idlewild.
Specifically, the first draft would have had planes coming in over Queens for arrival landing near the airport’s edge and aircraft taking off toward the bay starting from a departure point closer to the park.
The new plan, however, keeps these elements where they are now and “does not result in lower landing elevations north of the airport.”
Some of the trees will be obstructions to planes, but instead of cutting them down the Port Authority now proposes installing lights to alert pilots to the trees. In April, the Parks Department said any trees that might have to be removed would be replaced with lower-growing species.
The Port Authority will be accepting public comments on the new plan through Nov. 18, after which point it will seek federal, state and city approvals. The agency plans to begin work on the plan in March and shut down the runway for no more than 180 days in June 2015.
The agency ruffled some feathers last year when it opened the 30-day public comment period publicized only with an ad placed in Newsday. Community members convinced the authority to re-open the public comment period.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
