Mobile County seeks to buy property near Dauphin Island airport for safety zone

(Press-Register, Bill Starling)Earle and Nancy Connell pose for a portrait in front of their home on Dauphin Island on Sept. 9, 2009. The Connells retired few years ago to the home, which they built. Now Mobile County has notified them that their house as well as some other homes near the airport may be taken by eminent domain because the FAA is requiring a larger safety zone around the Dauphin Island airport.

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. -- Earle and Nancy Connell's elevated porch with ceiling fans and wicker chairs overlooks green marsh and the calm Mississippi Sound.

For Nancy Connell, their retirement home on Octavia Street became a sanctuary as she recovered from cancer recently.

But one day last month, the Connells said, a letter arrived in the mail: Mobile County will be purchasing their property to create a safety zone around the runway at the nearby county-owned Dauphin Island Airport.

"This is a horrible thing -- they're seizing our home," Earle Connell said. "There are other ways to achieve their objective instead of stealing people's homes."

Alabama requires a protection zone around the runways of airports -- a policy that the Federal Aviation Administration strongly encourages, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

A state survey, conducted roughly eight years ago, of the 78 smaller "general aviation airports" across Alabama found that about two-thirds of the facilities didn't meet state licensing requirements, mostly because of a lack of runway protection zones, according to transportation officials.

The FAA gave about $345,000 over fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for land purchases around the 3,000-foot runway on Dauphin Island, and more lots are being appraised for fair market value, Bergen said.

So far, two properties near the Dauphin Island Airport have been purchased -- one vacant and the other with a house, county officials said. Another six properties, four with houses, are being appraised, county officials said.

Dauphin Island Airport is low-activity with no aircraft based at the site, which some property owners in the area argued makes the safety zone unnecessary.

Still, county officials said, they couldn't allow people to stay in an area that has been deemed unsafe.

John Murphy, county assistant engineer, said the county isn't aware of other options that would allow the property owners to stay.

"It is as much for their safety as the people flying in and out of the airport," Murphy said.

The federal funding pays for 95 percent of the costs, while the remaining 5 percent must come from the state or local levels, the FAA spokeswoman said.

John Eagerton, chief of the Alabama Department of Transportation's aeronautics bureau, said most of the airports noted in the survey now meet licensing requirements. He said he expects all of the safety zones to be complete in about two years, and no other airports in Mobile or Baldwin counties are affected.

Displaced homeowners are reimbursed for their home's fair market value and for moving expenses and the costs of finding a comparable home, county officials said.

Earle Connell, who is a professional pilot, said his family and other residents shouldn't be displaced for an airport that doesn't get a lot of traffic, and he urged the county to look for alternatives.

"I could understand if we had aircraft based at the airport," he said. "There's no reason to be taking these homes."