Sort out mess over parking lot

8/4/08
What is going on in Stratford? How is it only now that the Federal Aviation Administration is making a fuss over the use of a parking lot for Long Beach West?
The town is looking to sell that beautiful stretch of land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — a deal that is years in the making and makes sense for the town, the environment and anyone who is interested in maintaining the beach for generations to come.
Now, seemingly out of nowhere, the FAA has piped up with news that the parking lot for Long Beach West is in fact part of Sikorsky Memorial Airport — owned by neighboring Bridgeport — and can’t be used for beach access. Failure to abide by these rules could lead to a loss of funding for the airport.
What this means, in effect, is there is no access to this prime piece of land. The bridge to adjoining Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport has been out for a decade, and the only hopes of restoring access there is some pipe dream of a water-taxi system. Good luck counting on that.
The FAA has a longstanding goal of increasing a safety zone at the end of a Sikorsky Airport runway, a move that makes sense and ought to have happened years ago. It’s been held up by people who view the safety move as a precursor to an airport expansion to allow larger planes to land and more frequent air travel. Airport neighbors have successfully fought the change for years.
It’s hard to imagine these strands don’t tie together somehow. But before the Long Beach West deal falls apart, all sides need to sit down and hash out these differences. If the parking lot has been used for non-airport functions for decades, it can safely continue to do so.
Officials from Stratford, Bridgeport, the FAA, the airport and local environmental groups must get together posthaste and work out these problems. If the beach sale falls through, there’s no telling when another opportunity would come up, if ever.
This move can’t be allowed to fail.