Updated: Dec 17, 2009 7:09 PM EST
Chris Proffitt/Eyewitness News
Hamilton County - After four years, the Indianapolis Airport Authority is pulling the plug on a plan for Fishers to relocate Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport. It's a major economic disappointment for the town that hoped Metro's prime acreage would attract a billion dollars in re-development.
Rejected by Noblesville and vigorously opposed by Madison County, Fishers spent four years and $150,000 on a feasibility study in an effort to relocate and expand Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport. But on Thursday, the town said that that effort is over.
"I think we looked at it as an opportunity that would have been great had it come to fruition. I think it's something you have to accept as the way things are given the current economic state of affairs," said Dan Henke, Fishers Town Council.
Built in 1967 and owned by the Indianapolis Airport Authority, Metro is considered a reliever airport for Indianapolis International, used mostly by pilots of small single engine planes. The airport authority agreed to move Metro if Fishers could find a suitable new site. The last best hope was 4,000 acres in southwest Madison County, a plan that ran afoul of property owners who formed a group called the No Fly Zone.
"What we need there is a good, economic, tax paying base for all of Madison county and this would not have been it," said Susan Campbell, a member of No Fly Zone.
While it's a victory for opponents, it's a disappointment for Fishers, which envisioned a billion dollars' worth of development on its last, prime piece of real estate.
Fishers says the 445-acre development would have generated millions of dollars in taxes. But with the airport authority now saying that the time has passed, Metro will stay where it is, as it is.
The airport authority meets Friday and will likely reverse a four-year-old agreement with Fishers to move Metro.
Hamilton County - After four years, the Indianapolis Airport Authority is pulling the plug on a plan for Fishers to relocate Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport. It's a major economic disappointment for the town that hoped Metro's prime acreage would attract a billion dollars in re-development.
Rejected by Noblesville and vigorously opposed by Madison County, Fishers spent four years and $150,000 on a feasibility study in an effort to relocate and expand Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport. But on Thursday, the town said that that effort is over.
"I think we looked at it as an opportunity that would have been great had it come to fruition. I think it's something you have to accept as the way things are given the current economic state of affairs," said Dan Henke, Fishers Town Council.
Built in 1967 and owned by the Indianapolis Airport Authority, Metro is considered a reliever airport for Indianapolis International, used mostly by pilots of small single engine planes. The airport authority agreed to move Metro if Fishers could find a suitable new site. The last best hope was 4,000 acres in southwest Madison County, a plan that ran afoul of property owners who formed a group called the No Fly Zone.
"What we need there is a good, economic, tax paying base for all of Madison county and this would not have been it," said Susan Campbell, a member of No Fly Zone.
While it's a victory for opponents, it's a disappointment for Fishers, which envisioned a billion dollars' worth of development on its last, prime piece of real estate.
Fishers says the 445-acre development would have generated millions of dollars in taxes. But with the airport authority now saying that the time has passed, Metro will stay where it is, as it is.
The airport authority meets Friday and will likely reverse a four-year-old agreement with Fishers to move Metro.
