By LEONARD GRAY

AMA – Preparations for a public forum on the planned expansion of Louis Armstrong International Airport are complete and the event will be held April 26 at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Ama, starting at 6 p.m.

St. Charles Parish Councilman Brian Fabre arranged the meeting with the Federal Aviation Administration to piggyback on three other scheduled public hearings, planned April 23-25.

In a letter to residents, Fabre referred to a March 5 meeting, planned for Ama residents to voice their concerns, and stated: “I was unable to attend this meeting because I was in Washington D.C. Meeting with our Congressional delegation discussing this very matter. I was unaware that the FAA had made these arrangements, and have taken steps to ensure that all the residents of Ama will be afforded an opportunity to adequately share their views and concerns regarding this important issue.”

The other forums are scheduled for April 23 at the Jerusalem Temple, Ormond Boulevard, Destrehan; April 24 at the Pontchartrain Center, Williams Boulevard at the lake, Kenner; and April 25 at the Municipal Training Academy, 401 City Park Ave., New Orleans. Public workshops will begin at 6 p.m., and the open forums will be held from 7-8:30 p.m.

The FAA held two public forums on the planned expansion of Louis Armstrong International Airport, but most St. Charles Parish officials were unaware of the meetings, held at the Jerusalem Shrine Temple in Ormond March 5-6. The earlier meeting for Ama residents was sparsely attended, according to Councilman-at-Large G. “Ram” Ramchandran, who estimated 20-25 people made their way from Ama to Destrehan for that meeting.

The planned project directly affecting St. Charles Parish is a north-south runway, to be located entirely in St. Charles Parish, just north of James Business Park. The FAA is preparing a draft environmental impact statement on proposed developments at the airport to address future air traffic demands.

Among those projects are the construction of a new parallel air carrier runway and associated taxiways, conversion of an existing east-west taxiway into a parallel general aviation runway and a new parallel taxiway, construction of a north-south roadway connector from Airline Highway to Interstate 10 and the downgrading of Runway 06/24 to a taxiway.

The new north-south runway is under consideration, because the present north-south runway is considered too close to the Airport Access Road and to I-10. “A new air carrier runway would correct this difficulty, reduce delay during peak periods when the airport is experiencing poor visibility, and provide more flexibility during all weather conditions,” according to an FAA newsletter about the forums.

Placing a runway there, however, could prompt relocation of hundreds of St. Rose families and increase jet noise, especially over St. Rose and Ama. Other concerns include the fact that the proposed runway would be built in existing wetlands and affect everything from fisheries and migratory waterfowl to drainage and hurricane protection.

The project to build a highway from Airline to I-10 would make use of a tunnel constructed more than a decade ago, as part of a project to connect Veterans Memorial Boulevard and Airline. The tunnel itself was built, under Runway 01/19, and sealed at both ends, while the approaching roads were never built. This project, extending the road to I-10, is now under study by the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission.