On August 10 at the Watsonville City Council will be voting whether or not to close runway 8-26 at Watsonville Airport. The reason for the closure vote is that a developer, the City Manager, City Planning Director, and several Council people want to build a shopping center and 2500 homes off the departure end of runway 26. Runway 26 is the second most used runway at WVI. These people refuse to adopt the Watsonville Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan (based on the State Handbook (January 2002)). They want to create another Reid Hillview situation. In addition to strong westerly winds that occur, a unique weather situation occurs at WVI. Low fog lays across the south side of the Airport for hours during the day, especially in the summer months, making runway 2-20 unuseable for VFR operation and IFR operations to runway 2. The Watsonville Pilots Association and others are fighting to keep this much needed runway open. We need all the help we can get.
Dan Chauvet
Watsonville Pilots Association
