Jackson County commissioners released bits and pieces of an engineering study that outlines what it would take to fix rain runoff and unstable slopes at the Jackson County Airport this week, but are withholding the full report citing a pending lawsuit over a landslide on the property.

In sections of the study that were released, engineers outlined a costly plan to trap and dissipate rainwater. When unchecked, the rain water is destabilizing the slopes beneath at the mountaintop airport and causing aggravation for downhill property owners. A system of lined ditches and retention ponds would cost an estimated $600,000, commissioners learned at their meeting Monday (July 7).

Without the full study, the public isn’t privy to the price tag for fixing other slope issues that may be present at the airport, or the scope of the problems.

Two property owners who live below the airport sued the county and the airport authority after heavy rains in 2005 triggered a small landslide at the airport, sending mud onto their property. Landowners R.L. Ammons and Dewayne Pruett are seeking damages as well as compensation for their property.

It’s not the first time the slopes around the mountaintop airport have collapsed. There have been two other slope failures in the airport’s history. One took out 400 feet of the runway in 1978, but the remaining runway was long enough that it didn’t impact take-off and landing. Another slope showing signs of slipping is along the entrance road, a problem area that has cropped up in the last 10 years.

The slope problems riddling the airport have been blamed on bad design and bad construction techniques. At one point, the county even sued the engineer and contractor that built the airport in the 1970s.

According to WK Dickerson, the engineering firm hired to conduct the study, neither the runway slide nor entrance road slide pose a risk to safety and can simply be left alone for now.

“There are no areas on the airport that represent a threat to the public and require additional evaluation as to stability at this time,” said Ed Hearn with Geotechnologies, a firm that assisted with the engineering report.

The slide that took out part of the runway has migrated over the years, but not enough to be a concern, Hearn said. The initial slide claimed up to the shoulder of the runway. The long scarf, as Hearn called it, is now at the center line, indicating slow movement of less than a foot a year.

The second slide, the one at the entrance road to the airport, doesn’t concern Hearn either, despite the presence of some depressions in the road.

“It is a very slow moving slope. It does not pose a threat to the public,” Hearn said. “It may never get to the point where it needs any remedial work or impacts the operation of the airport.”

The engineers do recommend monitoring the slides for further movement.

Portions of the study detailing the third slide above the Ammons and Pruett property were shared with the county commissioners during a portion of the meeting closed to the public. The engineers’ report postulates a couple of potential causes for that slide, according to Hearn.

Federal windfall

In a rare stroke of luck concerning the airport, Jackson County just happens to have roughly $600,000 at its disposal in federal grants to tackle the slope and runoff problems. It would cost the county a little less than $70,000 in matching funds to make good on the $600,000 in federal money, according to Bill Maslyk, a N.C. Department of Transportation official that handles the federal small airport grant program.

The small airport grants were started in 2001. Jackson qualified for $150,000 a year, requiring only a 10 percent match. But for years, Jackson leaders didn’t want to pony up the match, so the grant money remained on the table. Commissioners believed the airport should be self-sustaining, supported by the pilots that use it rather than all taxpayers.

But last year, county commissioners acquiesced and put up $45,000 in order to bring home $405,000 in the federal money to help the airport. That accounted for three years worth of the grant money, from 2002 to 2004. There are another four years worth of the grant money still on the table, from 2005 through 2008, Maslyk said.

The grant money would pay to install the necessary stormwater devices, according to the engineers’ cost estimates. It wouldn’t be enough to fix any slope stability issues associated with the landslide or pending lawsuit, a number the public doesn’t yet know.

The $405,000 in federal grants, plus the county’s $45,000 match that came through last year, are being spent mostly on things to make the airport more functional for pilots. Some of the money paid for the engineer’s study on slope issues. The rest was spent on things to help pilots, including:

• A terminal building — There was no terminal building at the airport for pilots to use the bathroom, check weather reports, file flight plan or get out of the weather.

• A weather station — This is for more accurate weather readings.

• Runway landing technology — The system, called Precision Approach Path Indicator, acts as a beacon to help pilots land properly. A series of lights tell pilots whether they are coming in too low or too high, which can be serious given the mountain-top runway.