RDU makes its case why a judge should dismiss the airport quarry lawsuit
When opponents of a planned quarry on property controlled by Raleigh-Durham International Airport filed suit in March, the airport said the lawsuit was without merit and asked a judge to dismiss it.
On Wednesday, the RDU Airport Authority filed a more emphatic and detailed request that the lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court be dismissed. In 47 pages, attorneys for the airport governing board argue that it has the authority to lease 105 acres of wooded land near Umstead State Park and that it followed the law in seeking someone to lease it.
The Airport Authority voted 7-0 on March 1 to lease what’s known as the Odd Fellows property to Wake Stone Corp. for a quarry, in exchange for royalties and other payments of an estimated $24 million. Within a month, two organizations — The Umstead Coalition and Triangle Off-Road Cyclists or TORC — and three individuals filed suit claiming the four governments that own the airport — Raleigh, Durham and Durham and Wake counties — needed to approve the lease and that the Airport Authority had violated the state’s open meetings law.
Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway issued an order restricting mining activity on the property until he could hear arguments about the merits of the lawsuit. Those arguments are now scheduled for the week of Sept. 16.
In the meantime, the Airport Authority made its case for dismissing the lawsuit Wednesday. Among the arguments it makes:
▪ The Airport Authority doesn’t need to seek approval for the lease from the cities and counties. While the local governments own the airport, the General Assembly gave the Airport Authority the power to run it, including over leases; the power of the local governments is limited to each appointing two members to the board. “RDU is an entity separate and distinct from these governmental bodies,” the authority’s attorneys write.
▪ In 1959, the General Assembly expanded the Airport Authority’s power to lease airport property to include terms as long as 40 years. The Wake Stone lease is for 25 years, with 10 optional one-year extensions, for a total of 35.
▪ The groups that brought the lawsuit falsely claim that the state’s open meetings law requires the Airport Authority to consult the public on the lease. The law allows the public to attend meetings but doesn’t guarantee that people will be allowed to speak or be heard, the authority says.
▪ The Airport Authority says it wasn’t required to hold a public hearing or accept public comment on the lease. But the authority argues that the public had plenty of opportunity to weigh in on the use of the Odd Fellows land during the two years that the airport was developing its Vision 2040 master plan. The plan, which the Federal Aviation Administration approved in late 2017, calls for using the property for “industrial/quarry.”
The Airport Authority’s attorneys write that the board took public opinion into account when it decided the quarry lease was in the best interest of the airport.
“Some members of the public disagree with that determination,” they write. “but that determination was one legally entrusted to [the RDU Airport Authority] to make.”
Hundreds of opponents of the quarry held a rally in Umstead State Park late last month, urging voters in Raleigh to support candidates for City Council who would push the city to intervene in the lease. With the focus of the event on politics, the lawsuit was barely mentioned.
This story was originally published August 8, 2019 at 5:30 AM.
