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April 29, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: Over the past few months there have been several skeptical letters to the editor regarding the Rockbridge Economic Development Authority’s (EDA) general aviation airport initiative. The EDA hasn’t done a very effective job of communicating about this project, allowing suspicion, rumor and negativism to fill the void.
People absolutely should question any expenditure of public funds, and valid concerns have been raised about the costs of land, construction, and maintenance for an airport; possible locations; noise; environmental impact; and the size of the potential facility.
The airport feasibility study will explore all these topics and more. In coordination with the Virginia Department of Aviation, the Central Shenandoah Planning District Committee, the cities of Lexington and Buena Vista, and Rockbridge County will solicit bids and select a highly qualified firm to conduct the study. The study is unlikely to begin before 2025, and only once it is complete and the results have been thoroughly evaluated will there be a decision to proceed with or abandon the airport initiative.
However, the airport initiative is about a lot more than building an airport. It’s about preparing for the future. The EDA exists to help set conditions that make Rockbridge County a more economically attractive place to live, work, and raise a family, not just now, but in the future.
Although Rockbridge County’s population has steadily grown over the past 50 years, we have a shrinking working age (19-64) population and a growing retirement age (65+) population. The population under working age (0-18) is also shrinking, and many Rockbridge County native high school and college graduates leave with no intention of returning.
If these demographic trends continue unchanged, we will reach a point in the not-too-distant future when the working-age population will be insufficient to support the rest of the population. An airport, providing new work and business opportunities, is one mechanism that may help to combat these trends.
The EDA does not have all the answers. If you’ve got ideas for positive steps that can be taken to help prepare Rockbridge County for the future, please attend an EDA meeting or email me at bbrown@rockbridgecountyva. gov. BOYD BROWN EDA chairman Kerrs Creek
