Members of the Colville 200 and Beyond Committee shared what they thought is important to a healthy community.

    Lori Isenberg facilitated the meeting and attempted to help the committee define the questions that need to be asked about the new airport. 

BY SOPHIA ALDOUS
S-E Staff Reporter

    The new airport was the main focus of the first Colville 2000 and Beyond Committee meeting last Thursday at Colville City Hall. Around 14 people on the recently formed committee came together to discuss visionary goals for the community, including econ¬omy, education, healthcare and infrastructure, among other issues.
    But the topic of the proposed reloca¬tion of the present Colville airport dominated the meet¬ing, with a crowd of commu¬nity members asking a multitude of questions about the project.
    Public Involvement Special¬ist Lori Isenberg of Northwest Dynamics facilitated the two-hour meeting, taking ques¬tions and listening to concerns from the committee as well as the audience.
    “I have to admit, I was un¬der the impression that this committee was to deal more specifically with the issue of the airport,” said committee member and city council member Doug Kyle. “I believe that these other issues are important, but it will be hard to discuss those when so many people are here tonight to talk about the airport.”
    The following topics of inter¬est were identified by each committee member: infra¬structure, employment, envi¬ronment, health care, plan¬ning, public safety, recreation, community spirit, education, strong families, economic vi¬tality, neighbor¬hoods/housing, and private property rights.
    The committee is part of the public participation process as it relates to the airport. The process is being funded by a $10,000 Washington State Department of Transportation Aviation grant and $8,500 from the city’s current ex¬pense fund.

‘Do we need blacktop on our water source?’

    Before the meeting began, Colville Mayor Dick Nichols stated that at present, the city did not have a plan for an airport at any particular site. The most con¬troversial proposed site has been the one on Aladdin Road. At least three Colville 2000 and Beyond committee members, Raymond Driggs, Velmer Hawkins and Cecil McNinch, own property on or near the site.
    “Do we need blacktop on our water source?” questioned Hawkins, referring to the possi¬bility that the airport would be built over the City of Colville’s aquifer. “There’s a lot of stressed out people here be¬cause we feel like there are questions about this airport that aren’t being answered. There are landowners here who are elderly and can’t sleep at night because they are worried someone’s going to try and build an airport where their homes are.”
    Some committee members referred to the meeting as a “bait and switch” tactic, echoing Kyle’s statement that they thought the purpose of the meeting and the board was to deal with matters sur¬rounding the airport. Isenberg applauded the group for “tackling the elephant in the room.”
    “This is not meant to be a bait and switch,” reassured Isenberg. “This is just to get a broader sense of what you would like to see happen in your community 10, 20 years down the road. We’re here to identify what those concerns are and to see what questions need to be answered.”
    Isenberg stated that every community has a crucial is¬sue that is dealt with by iden¬tifying what it is that people see for Colville’s future.
    “Before you even begin the process of looking at funding and different airport sites, I recommend that the commu¬nity be consulted to find out what is important to them,” said Isenberg. “Having a vi¬sion document, or a document that outlines you goals and the reasons for them, is very influential because it says this is what we believe and this is what’s important to us.”

‘People need to see where the discussion is going…’

    Several committee members felt that most of the crowd was present because they were under the impression that the meeting was about the airport.
    “People need to see where the discussion is going and that we’re moving ahead,” said committee member Russ Vaagen.
    The committee agreed to take a few minutes and iden¬tify questions about the air¬port that people thought needed to be answered.  Questions from both commit¬tee and the public in atten¬dance were whether or not the new airport would be a city or regional facility; did the Colville mayor or council members ever echo the words “eminent domain” to any of the landowners who live on the Aladdin and Knapp Road site; why isn’t Stevens County in¬volved in the airport process; are three proposed airport sites the only options avail¬able for construction; the re¬sults of the Federal Aviation Association’s wind study of the Aladdin site done in March, where does the Growth Management Act fit in, and is a new airport even needed?
    Isenberg responded by say¬ing she would take the ques¬tions, which were broken down into process and techni¬cal categories, and try to an¬swer each one with a fact sheet that she would then email to committee members and anyone that requested it.
    The committee also agreed that future meetings would benefit by having an expert in a particular field concerning airport con¬struction and study be pre¬sent to answer questions.
    “I can see we have to deal with this matter before we can deal with the others, but they kind of inform each other,” said committee member Forrest Collins regarding the airport’s connection with is¬sues like employment, envi¬ronment and public safety.
    Before the meeting was ad¬journed around 8 p.m., Isen¬berg encouraged those pre¬sent to communicate with her by email or phone. She said she would send out an email with a suggested agenda for the next meeting.
    The next Colville 200 and Beyond meeting will be Mon¬day, November 16, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at Colville City Hall. The public is invited to attend.
    Isenberg can be reached for questions or comments at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it