Middleton city council/Springfield town board: Together at last
Middleton Morey Airport, the use of eminent domain, traffic concerns, and stormwater management were the four topics of discussion during a rare joint meeting between the Middleton city council and the Springfield town board on July 28 at Springfield town hall. The meeting had long been requested by Springfield, and board chairman Jim Pulvermacher made it very clear that he was irritated that it had not taken place before the Middleton city council adopted the airport master plan and the airport layout plan on April 19 of this year. (Just over a year ago, on July 6, 2021, the city council unanimously tabled - i.e. removed from consideration - a request by mayor Gurdip Brar for just such a joint meeting. The motion to table was made by district 8 alderman Mark Sullivan and seconded by district 6 alderman Susan West, neither of which is on the council anymore. A virtual joint meeting between the town board and the city council on August 20, 2020 degenerated into an unsatisfactory 'listening session': town board members aired their grievances and city council members said nothing.)
The airport master plan process soured relations between the two municipalities, although the relaxed atmosphere and informal tone at the joint meeting suggest that no lasting damage has been done, and that the elected officials from both communities are interested in moving on. It certainly helps that the town of Springfield never engaged in a disinformation campaign or retaliation over the airport the way the town of Middleton did, although some Springfield residents were, and still are, active airport opponents. Ironically, the only openly declared airport opponent at the table last Thursday in Springfield town hall seemed to be Middleton mayor Gurdip Brar, and even he alluded to his position only briefly.
Still, as Jim Pulvermacher pointed out, Springfield residents are concerned about the airport, and the heavy growth in the airport area and in airport use. While he accepted the statement by Middleton officials that the airport master plan is not a project plan, but a series of future development options, including the option to leave the airport as is, he seemed skeptical, pointing out that once a project is put on paper, it moves from a theoretical possibility to a plausibility, especially if, years from now, a new generation of elected officials might not remember the controversy surrounding the master plan, and might not feel bound by the commitments made today.
He floated the question whether the city would be willing to reopen the airport master plan discussion - most likely a non-starter in Middleton city hall. Town of Springfield board members did however get the assurance that they would be part of the conversation if the city decided to pursue an expansion project, although it remained unclear if, as Jim Pulvermacher suggested, the future development of the airport could become part of the inter-governmental agreement between the city and the town.
The topic could come up sooner rather than later, as pressure is building to add more hangars and to extend the main runway. The hangar issue could be on the airport commission's agenda as soon as this coming Thursday.