Don’t waste Taxpayer Dollars!
- A small group of airport neighbors has petitioned to pass a Town bylaw that would ban certain larger aircraft (known as Design Group 2, or DG2) from landing at Chatham Airport
- Town Counsel and Airport attorneys have opined that this bylaw is illegal; the Finance Committee and Select Board have unanimously voted to recommend against it.
- Passage of this article would force the Town to litigate against Federal and State authorities who have preemptive authority to regulate airport operations.
- Town Legal and administrative efforts to defend this article could take years and are likely to cost Chatham taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and divert Town resources from other more important matters.
- Petitioners justify their concerns based on their expressed safety issues with larger aircraft (such as the Pilatus PC-12) classified as Design Group 2 (DG2). However, in over 80 years DG2 aircraft have had a perfect safety record without a single accident or incident at Chatham Airport!
- Given the perfect safety record of these aircraft, it is inconceivable that Federal and State authorities would allow Chatham to ban them outright.
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The correct place to solve these issues is with the FAA, not Town Meeting. The Airport Commission is ready to work with the airport neighbors to seek relief from the FAA. Let’s work together to get this done. Vote NO on Article 59 and save your tax dollars!!!