Late 1999/Early 2000 - Mr. Griffith (owner of Houston SW Airport) negotiates the purchase of the 211 acres located north of the airport - this land will be needed to expand his airport.
Late 1999/Early 2000 – Mr. Griffith sends a letter to Judge Adolphus explaining "An integral part of the future development of Houston SW is the expansion of the airport north across McKeever Rd...In order for this to happen, McKeever Road needs to be diverted up to Highway 6 where it will tie into South Post Oak. To facilitate the inclusion of this project in the upcoming election (Mobility Bond Election), I will commit to dedicating the right-of-way to the county and to funding 50% of the road's construction cost...." In other words, Mr. Griffith was directing the County Judge to include this road into the County Mobility system, just as he is directing Judge Hebert in that action today. The ONLY reason that McKeever is being diverted and South Post Oak is included in the County's Mobility Bonds, is because Griffith had it put in there.
May 2000 - Roy Jackson elected Mayor of Arcola on the platform of being against airport expansion.
June 14, 2000 - Mr. Griffith sends John Golden, the manager of Houston SW Airport to Ft. Worth to meet with the FAA, specifically Otis Welsh and Ben Guttery to discuss the prospective expansion of the airport. The FAA did not think this airport merited expansion, and Mr. Guttery in fact suggested 3 or 4 times that they should “turn the airport into a shopping center”.
July 21, 2000 - Mr. Griffith sends airport consultant Paul Gaines to meet with the same people, and gets a better response. They acknowledged that Houston SW Airport had a good prospective sponsor (Fort Bend County)
August 7, 2000 - George Vittas met in Ft. Worth with Mike Nicely, the new regional manager for the FAA. The conclusion from this meeting is;
1. Houston SW Airport needs a public sponsor front and center to lead the conversion to public ownership project (Fort Bend County).
2. To get funding for the called-for studies (the Feasibility Study in 2001) the “appropriate officials” should immediately contact Dave Fulton (of TxDOT), indicate their desires, and “DEMAND some “cooperation”.
August 8, 2000 - Mr. Griffith sends a letter to Judge Adolphus, Bob Brown, Bob Hebert, and Herb Appel, (leaders of the Fort Bend Economic Development Council), detailing the actions of Mr. Griffith's agents' interaction with TxDOT Aviation and FAA officials in the past 3 weeks.
Late 2000/Early 2001 - Tom Delay pushes for approval of funding for the feasibility study for the expansion of Houston SW Airport. +_ $500,000.00 is approved refer to the August 8, 2000 letter above.
2001 - Chuck Willis of GRW Willis, Fort Worth, begins developing the Airport Feasibility Study.
September 26, 2001 - First official meeting of a Fort Bend County Working Committee. List of persons attending this meeting; Commissioner Tom Stavinoha, John Knox - Chief of Staff for Judge Adolphus, Roy Jackson - Mayor of Arcola, Paul Gaines - County Aviation Advisor, Linda Howard - Project Mgr TxDOT Aviation, Jamie Griffith - President of Houston SW Airport, Chuck Willis - CRW Willis, Planning Consultant. Their charge was to meet with the consultants to initiate the study, to discuss any issues relative to it's study and it's execution, and to establish the geographic limits for the study area.
December 19, 2001 - Fort Bend County Working Committee Meeting
May 7, 2002 - Mayor Jackson re-elected - reverses position on the airport.
May 15, 2002 - Fort Bend County Working Committee Meeting
July 29, 2002 - Fort Bend County Working Committee Meeting
November 26, 2002 - Airport Feasibility Study is released.
December 4, 2002 - Mr. Griffith sends a letter to County Commissioners asking them to accept the Airport Feasibility Study.
December 16, 2002 - Fort Bend County Commissioners Court places the issue of adopting a resolution to accept the Airport Feasibility Study on the agenda. The issue is tabled after a letter is received by the Commissioners from Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace asking for answers to 26 specific questions.
May 13, 2003 - Tom Hilton writes letter to Mayor Jackson explaining his actions regarding the airport.
June 10, 2003 - Arcola City Council votes against any plan to allow for expansion of this airport.
June 13, 2003 - Arcola Mayor Roy Jackson, in a desperate move to keep the airport plan alive, illegally vetoes City Council’s action of June 10, 2003.
July 22, 2003 - Commissioners Court adopts a resolution to accept the Airport Feasibility Study and to set a date for the Public Hearing on the Houston SW Airport. I believe this is where County Judge Hebert incorrectly asserted that the County would be required to repay the $500,000 if they didn't appprove the study. This prevarication, I believe, influenced Commissioner's Court's decision that day - since they approved the Feasibility Study, Mr. Griffith then had a plan which he could then present to the FAA for inclusion into the NPIAS system after the County declined to acquire the airport..
September 9, 2003 - Arcola City Council adopts a resolution opposing the purchase and/or expansion of a private airport in Arcola, Texas by the Commissioners Court of Fort Bend County, Texas.
September 18, 2003 - Public Hearing is held, where the public overwhelmingly rejected the actions proposed by the Airport Feasibility Study.
September 23, 2003 - Commissioners Court votes not to sponsor the airport due to the fact that Arcola and it’s citizens soundly rejected the idea of the expansion of Houston SW Airport.
October 2003 - Mr. Griffith asks TxDOT Aviation to recommend Houston SW Airport to the FAA to be included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) - TxDOT Aviation complies with his request.
November 15, 2003 - Mike Nicely, Regional Manager for the FAA signs a letter to TxDOT adding Houston SW Airport to the NPIAS.
November 17, 2003 - Arcola and Missouri City sign ETJ Agreement - ETJ is defined as the western boundary of Newpoint Estates running from Hwy 6 to McKeever Road, then North along McKeever.
December 15, 2003 - FAA determines that Houston SW Airport met the FAA criteria for inclusion into the NPIAS as a reliever airport.
April 22, 2004 - Mr. Griffith sends an “Application for Federal Financial Assistance” to the FAA for $4,306,433. The application identifies several proposed projects which includes but is not limited to; land acquisition, relocation of Duke Road (including land), runway and parallel taxiway extension, canal improvement (culvert), and other projects.
May 2004 - Alvin Gipson is elected Mayor of Arcola.
May-October 2004 - Mr. Griffith meets privately with Mayor Gipson on several occasions to discuss matters relating to Houston SW Airport and Arcola (exact # of and content of meetings not made available). Griffith reverses pledge to block the airport expansion, and begins to actively promote it.
August 30, 2004 - Mike Nicely of the FAA sends a letter to Judge Hebert explaining why McKeever Road needs to be diverted; 1) Allowing McKeever Road to exist in its present state or in an improved state ...would conflict with FAA design standards. 2) IN addition, McKeever Road in its present location would preclude any extension to the runway.
September 14, 2004 - Arcola City Attorney Jim Dougherty presents a resolution approving the plan of the proposed extension of S. Post Oak to Arcola City Council - he recommends approval of this resolution and presenting to County Commissioners. Item is tabled after questions are raised about it’s layout. NOTE: This plan is exactly what is required for airport expansion as shown in the feasibility study.
November 09, 2004 – Houston SW Airport invites a local radio station (93.7) to use it's runway to launch potatoes. This is such a busy, important airport that they are able to shut down the entire airport to launch potatoes?
November 10, 2004 – Public Hearing is held by TXDOT Aviation regarding appropriation of funds ($644,000.00) for Tejas Avco. The grant to Tejas Avco is scheduled for Transportation Commission approval on December 16, 2004.
December 06, 2004 – Tom Hilton files a complaint with TXDOT Aviation stating that the notice of hearing was not in compliance with their statutes for a public hearing for financial assistance awards for our airport grant program since it did not include Houston SW Airport as the recipient (It named Tejas Avco, which the average person would not know is the corporation that owns Houston SW Airport).
December 07, 2004 - Karen Weidemann TxDOT – Aviation Director, Grant Management contacts Tom Hilton, stating that a new Public Hearing will be held regarding this matter on January 21, 2005. Ms. Weidemann also confirmed that the grant to Tejas Avco is no longer scheduled for Transportation Commission approval on December 16, 2004. They have removed this grant from Commission agenda for the December meeting, and the grant is now tentatively scheduled for approval of the Commission on February 24, 2005.
December 09, 2004 (+_) - Mayor Gipson, Jamie Griffith, Greg Abarr, and Albert Tibbs fly to Fort Worth to meet with Mike Nicely of the FAA. No details were ever provided of what transpired on that trip.
January 21, 2005 - Several area residents make the trip to Austin to present information at the TxDOT Aviation Public Hearing showing why this airport is NOT eligible for federal funding, and to express their opposition to the expansion of this airport. NOTE: TxDOT has NEVER failed to administer a grant that has been submitted to them by the FAA, so apparently by the time it gets to this level, it's a done deal....a thought supported by the fact that NOBODY representing the airport showed up at the Public Hearing to make the case for receiving the grant. Slide showed as part of a presentation to TxDOT Aviaition the dangerous situation that exists now due to the fact that this airport is wedged inbetween existing residential development...and they still want to expand the runway? Ludicrous.
February 8, 2005 - Arcola City Council approves Resolution # 02-08-05 which states that McKeever Road fulfills an essential community purpose, and that no alterations, relocations, or closures will be allowed.
February 24, 2004 to present - Houston SW Airport has received over $3,000,000.00 in federal grants.
May 07, 2005 - Arcola Election - voting irregularities occured, including turning away of eligible voters from the poll, and possible ballot tampering.
May 17, 2005 - Commissioner Stavinoha sends a letter stating; "Fort Bend County has no intention of acquiring this (Right-of-Way) through condemnation. (Now they are very intent on acquiring this ROW through condemnation - refer to the December 6, 2005 meeting below). The present owner has agreed in writing to donate the ROW and donate $500,000.00 for construction, if the old McKeever Road ROW is deed to him. This would allow him to select the route of the new South Post Oak extension and allow for improvements to his Airport". (In other words, Griffith's $500,000 is buying him the right to use the County's power of Eminent Domain to further his private airport developmental plans, as there is absolutely NO REASON to go into Newpoint Estates except to make allowances for FAA safety guidelines relative to the runway. There are other alternatives that do not involve confiscating other people's private property that have not been discussed that would satisfy the FAA design requirements). Interesting note; Stavinoha says; "Widening McKeever to 4 lanes from Hwy 6 to Sienna Pkwy (3.1 miles) will cost approx. $25.3 million". This equals $8.16 million/mile...wouldn't it be more expensive to build South Post Oak from scratch than to upgrade existing McKeever? How much will South Post Oak REALLY cost?
May 17, 2005 7:20 PM- Arcola City Council ratifies the votes from the recent election and swears in the new Council Members.
May 17, 2005 7:25 PM- Arcola City Council votes to approve the "idea" of the South Post Oak extension, literally 5 minutes after swearing-in the newly elected Council Members. NOTE: This vote was taken without ANY discussion regarding the particulars involved with new Council Members that have NEVER taken part of any discussions (in a public forum).
July 12, 2005 - Arcola City Council votes approve Resolution # 07-12-05 which formally expresses it's support for the extension of South Post Oak.
December 6, 2005 - Commissioners Court meets to closed session to discuss condemnation of Newpoint Estates land; B. § 551.072. Deliberation Regarding Real Property. Commissioners Court will meet in
Closed Session to deliberate the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property.
1) Land Matters, Precinct 1: Acquisition of property, McKeever Road. No action taken - they want an Interlocal Agreement from Arcola. Agenda
December 13, 2005 - Arcola City Council approves motion for development of Interlocal Agreement.
December 15, 2005 - Tom Hilton files an Open Records Request with the Fort Bend County Attorney's Office pertaining to "correspondence between Judge Hebert's office and the FAA relative to Houston SW Airport in Arcola. This includes the Master Plan noted on page 2 of the August 30, 2004 letter from Mike Nicely (FAA) to Judge Hebert." This letter mentions "In addition, McKeever Road in it's present location would preclude any extension to the runway. The proposed runway extension has safety as well as serviceability benefits. The most effective way to expand the runway safety area (RSA) is to extend the runway to the east and displace the Runway 9 threshold. The overall runway length would be increased slightly and would serve the aircraft using the airport in a more effective manner. The present location of McKeever Road also may have an impact on the instrument approach procedure minimums". The intent of this Open Records Request was to obtain the latest plan for this airport that shows this runway extension.
December 20, 2005 - Arcola City Council approves Interlocal Agreement defining specs for road construction, annexation, etc..
December 20, 2005 - County Attorney sends a letter to the FAA asking for clarification of the safety requirements and written confirmation that would allow the County to blame the FAA for having to confiscate the properties in Newpoint Estates.
December 30, 2005 - County Attorney's office calls to say they have the latest plan, so I go to their office to pick it up. They hand me a plan dated 11/26/2003 which was the plan in the Feasibility Study (and was OBVIOUS that it did not depict the current plan for diverting McKeever. I asked Glen Dunbar, Asst. County Attorney to write a letter to the FAA to confirm that this is the latest plan on file with the FAA for Houston SW Airport, in addition to asking about the proposed runway extension mentioned in the August 30, 2004 letter. Mr. Dunbar declined to submit this letter to the FAA, even though I informed Mr. Dunbar that it would be negligent on the County's part to NOT CONFIRM that the County is acting on a project (South Post Oak) without the latest information at hand with which to make an INFORMED decision. He said he would discuss the possibility of doing so with County Attorney Bud Childers. I will keep you tuned as to his response.