Warren County Memorial Airport is ceasing its negotiations to acquire 6.16 acres from a neighbor and taking flight with eminent domain.According to airport manager Richard Crawford, negotiation efforts have been underway since 2008 and all avenues have been exhausted including numerous written correspondences, several meetings with the landowner, hiring a professional negotiation firm, and increasing the purchase offer to $47,000.The information was presented last week to the county's Economic and Agricultural Development Committee members.Due to the new four lane and access road to it, the land the airport wants to acquire has been cut off from the rest of the property the house sits on. Crawford says it can be used to extend the airport’s runway by 500 feet.“We need this property to get the runway 500 feet longer,” said Crawford. “Our goal is to try and get larger planes coming in.
Airport seeks land to extend runway