EGLIN AFB — The time for residents to lodge comments to be published along with a proposal to allow more F-35 jets to fly over Valparaiso has come to a close.
About 66 people, most of them from Valparaiso or nearby, registered their approval or disproval of the plan by the time the comment period ended Monday, according to a preliminary analysis provided by Mike Spaits, environmental spokesman for Eglin Air Force Base.
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The 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin now hosts 30 of the military’s newest fighter jets. More are expected to arrive in coming years.
Only about 20 percent of the comments submitted favored the Air Force’s plan to lift restrictions on the runway that would send F-35 traffic over Valparaiso.
The Air Force submitted a similar proposal to lift the restrictions in 2010, but decided to hold off on a decision until more information could be gathered about how the pilot training would be implemented and its potential impact on surrounding communities.
After reviewing additional information, the Air Force recommended that lifting the restrictions was the best way to allow for more flights as training ramps up.
The main concerns of those opposed to the plan are noise and impacts to property values, Spaits said.
Those are similar to the concerns expressed after the Air Force released its first proposal in 2010.
“This is fairly representative of what we received before (the revision). It’s pretty close to the same types of concerns and the quantity of input is close to what we experienced,” Spaits said.
More than half the comments were aired at a crowded public hearing in Valparaiso on July 9. About 37 people expressed opinions at the hearing, Spaits said.
Valparaiso Mayor Bruce Arnold warned at the time that allowing F-35s to fly over Valparaiso would have a devastating effect on property values and eventually bankrupt the city.
“While it has always been the desire of the city of Valparaiso to be supportive of the Air Force mission … where we have never waivered in our commitment to see Eglin’s success, this alternative represents the greatest amount of harm the Air Force can inflict on our city,” he said.
The proposal analyzed several alternatives to lifting the restrictions, all of which required additional runway construction.
However, lifting the restrictions would mean more people and more homes could be affected by noise than any other option.
Arnold and other residents said the noise from the jets would cause their property values to plummet because no one would want to live in the flight path.
Spaits said he thought the process was successful.
“From Day 1 this has been very well administered. Those who are potentially going to be impacted by the actions were aware of what the proposed actions are and had the opportunity to give input,” he said.
Eglin officials will review the comments to determine if they missed any substantive issues in their analysis of the proposed plan and its alternatives, Spaits said.
A final report is expected to be released to the public this fall.
Any public comments submitted now that the official comment period has closed still will be included when the report is submitted for approval, they just won’t be included in the published report, Spaits said.
The Air Force’s proposal, its analysis of all the alternatives and the public comments will be considered when the final decision is made by the deputy secretary of Air Force installations, he said.
A final decision is expected by the winter of 2014.