Slowik: Region makes renewed push for state to fund South Suburban Airport

Lawmakers and municipal leaders from the region are making a renewed push for a state commitment to fund the proposed South Suburban Airport.

Three officials testified for an hour Thursday before the Illinois House Appropriations-Capital Committee about how an airport near Monee would create jobs and generate investment.

“They had a full agenda, and they gave us an hour,” said state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights. “We had an opportunity to give a full explanation of the benefits. The majority of representatives seemed supportive. A few questioned the viability.”

Some farmers and Will County residents remain opposed to the project, saying no major third airport for northeastern Illinois is needed due to recent expansions of Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports.

Since 2002, the Illinois Department of Transportation has spent nearly $100 million to acquire about 4,500 acres for the proposed South Suburban Airport that was often associated with Peotone. Opponents want the state to sell the land, saying no airlines are interested in moving passengers through proposed terminals.

But advocates say the growth of online shopping creates greater need for an additional facility to handle air cargo throughout the region.

“Passengers are still important but ecommerce is critical,” said Reggie Greenwood, executive director of the Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation. “We are positioned in the right place at the right time.”

Greenwood said he told lawmakers the airport would complement intermodal rail and trucking facilities in south Cook and Will counties. Also testifying was Rick Bryant, senior advisor to U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson.

“The airport has been on pause,” Kelly said Tuesday. Former Gov. Bruce Rauner did not support the project, though several of his predecessors did.

“We’ve talked with every governor since James Thompson,” Kelly said. “This has been a bipartisan effort.”

“We need to meet with the governor,” Greenwood said.

I reached out to Jordan Abudayyeh, press secretary for Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and asked about the governor’s position on the South Suburban Airport.

“The project is under review as the administration is evaluating the best approach for the region’s aviation system and economic development,” Abudayyeh said. “The governor looks forward to discussing the future of the project with local stakeholders.”

In the meantime, civic boosters are trying to show unified support for the airport from Chicago’s South Side to Kankakee. DeLuca shared a letter he sent to more than 50 mayors in December.

“As a region, we have waited far too long for major projects and reforms that require state involvement,” DeLuca’s letter said, in part. “Southland elected officials must unite like never before.”

Significant economic development initiatives are needed to address high property tax rates and other concerns in the region, the letter said.

“Time is not on our side,” DeLuca wrote. “Unless we take bold and dramatic steps, it may be too late to turn things around … I am deeply concerned that without implementing meaningful initiatives immediately, many areas across the Southland may be falling into an economic point of no return.”

Bryant shared a copy of a letter Kelly wrote to DeLuca in January, which Bryant said formed the substance of his testimony Thursday before the House Appropriations-Capital Committee.

Kelly wrote that the South Suburban Airport needs a $12 million appropriation in the state’s fiscal year 2020 budget, plus a $150 million capital investment that “the state would recoup in increased tax revenues during the airport’s first year of operation.”

The $12 million would pay for an updated environmental impact study and completion of other requirements needed to obtain final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for the project, she wrote.

The $150 million capital investment would pay for a new I-57 interchange near Eagle Lake Road and other utility and infrastructure improvements, she wrote.

“I have discussed both funding requests with House Speaker Michael Madigan and he said he would support them,” Kelly wrote. “He also said these projects would be viewed as statewide investments (not local projects), thus they wouldn’t limit, reduce or interfere with other capital improvement requests for local infrastructure needs from individual legislators serving the area.”

The state commitment to finish the project after decades of work is needed to secure investment from a developer that would share the costs of building the airport through a public-private partnership, Greenwood said.

“The state has to decide to finish its part of the project,” Greenwood said.

During a presentation to South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association members in December, South Suburban Airport representative Mark Thompson said the state collects about $1.5 million a year in revenue from land it has acquired for the airport and leased back to farmers and others.

About $500,000 comes from rent on 30 state-owned homes, Thompson said at the time. Another $500,000 is collected from renting 2,800 acres of agricultural land and about $500,000 is generated from renting hangars, selling fuel and other revenues at Bult Field, a functioning airport the state bought for $34 million in 2014.

Not far from Bult Field, Amazon operates a fulfillment center in Monee — one of five facilities it operates in Will County.

“They move products from all over the world,” DeLuca said. The South Suburban Airport would position the state to capitalize on ecommerce growth, create thousands of new jobs and attract additional investment, he added.

The fate of the South Suburban Airport could be decided by the end of May as Pritzker and lawmakers negotiate the next state budget.

“There’s been uncertainty (about the project) for decades,” DeLuca said. “One way or another, there needs to be finality during this legislative session.”