About a year ago, Waukegan National Airport General Manager Skip Goss thought a public hearing on a proposed new, 7,000-foot runway was going to occur. Before that, he anticipated holding it in June of 2023. He is still waiting.
Before the public hearing can occur, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must issue its draft environmental assessment. Goss said that is when the agency will instruct him to schedule the hearing.
A preliminary draft environmental assessment was issued in mid-2023. Interested parties, including the Lake County Forest Preserves District and others, reviewed it. The Forest Preserves District plans to sell land to the Waukegan Port District, which owns and operates the airport.
Some of those interested parties offered the FAA comments which were intended to potentially become part of the final draft assessment. The FAA has yet to issue the draft assessment, and the $186 million runway project remains in limbo.
“There is just unbelievable red tape,” Goss said. “We ask (the FAA) to tell us what they want. They move at their own pace, which is as slow as molasses in January. It’s just unbelievable. I don’t have a sense of timing.”
The Waukegan National Airport’s project to build a new runway in the northern part of the city remains as unresolved this December as it did last December because it cannot move forward until the FAA issues the draft environmental assessment and a public hearing occurs.
When asked about the reasons for the delay, the FAA said in a recent statement that it was working closely with airport officials to make sure the proposed runway complies with airport design standards. Its statement did not address the timing of anything moving forward.
“The draft environmental analysis for the runway project is underway, and once approved for public release, the airport will schedule a public meeting on it,” the FAA said in its statement, but offered no explanation for needing more than a year to turn a preliminary draft into a final report.
Though the FAA said it is working with airport officials, Goss said he has done everything asked of the airport by the FAA, but there has been no communication for a while. He said there could be changes in standards like air quality or wetland preservation since then which need attention.
“I don’t have a sense of timing,” he said. “We’re not alone. It’s across the board. The FAA must follow all of the EPA rules. We’re doing everything we’ve been asked to do.”
Working on the project for the past five years, Goss said when the FAA is approached with a project like a new runway, it must examine its impact on the environment, according to the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act. Thus, the reason for the assessment.
While building the new runway, Goss said it is necessary to use the existing 6,000-foot landing strip so the airport can remain open during construction. Needing more land, the Port District agreed to buy 52 acres of the Waukegan Savanah from the Forest Preserves District.
As part of the agreement, Goss said the airport will make improvements in the portions of the savannah which will remain open to the public. The land near the runway will be part of a buffer if a plane should overshoot the landing strip. It will not be paved.
When the Forest Preserves District began discussing the non-binding memorandum of agreement with the Port District required by the FAA, the issue became controversial as environmental groups and other members of the public objected to the transaction.
Though the memorandum was easily approved, environmental groups like Clean Power Lake County and the Sierra Club objected. They organized public meetings to build opposition to the new runway.
Doug Ower, the chair of the Sierra Club’s Woods & Wetlands chapter, said he does not want to see public lands sold for commercial use. With Chicago’s Midway airport operating with a 6,522-foot runway, there is no need for a 7,000-foot landing strip in Waukegan, he said.
“It’s only needed for very, very, very long-distance flights, so they don’t have to refuel on their way across the Pacific (Ocean) to Asia,” Ower said. “I don’t want to see forest preserves land sold for private commercial use.”
Kevin Considine, the president and CEO of Lake County Partners, said the runway is at the end of its useful life, making a new one necessary. While he does not take a position on the transaction between the Port and Forest Preserves districts, closing the airport during construction would not be beneficial.
“The airport is really important to the Lake County economy, and the county overall,” Considine said. “It’s a critical economic engine, and it’s important for the emergency medical system. It’s important to keep the airport open.”
Lake County Board member Jessica Vealitzek, D-Hawthorn Woods, is the newly elected president of the Forest Preserves District. County board members have a dual role as Forest Preserves commissioners. She is awaiting the assessment and not making decisions until then.
“This is a big issue, and there is a lot of concern,” Vealitzek said. “I can’t make a decision until I know all the facts. I don’t feel I do now. It’s a complex issue. Safety is important.”
