On Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:07:51 +0000, Tom Conner wrote:

virtually any other economic use of
airport land will produce a tremendous amount more of $$$ than GA.

This turns out to be false, much to my town's annoyance.

We're learning that new housing is *expensive*. Sure, it means taxes.
But in our town, a new home means kids. And schooling two or more kids
costs more than most houses pay in taxes.

Anything more dense than a house (ie. an apartment building) which is well
suited to children is worse. A couple of developers got projects past the
town by claiming that the resulting homes would be kid-unfriendly. This
was recent, with the projects still under construction, so it remains to
be seen if kid-unfriendly can actually work. I've my doubts.

High density commercial or industry might generate more cash than a GA
airport. But it might also have additional costs. More, an airport
nearby is an asset for corporate sites. Take the airport away, and large
corporations will be less willing to pay for the space.

- Andrew