Sally SwartzSome bad ideas don’t die. They lie dormant until a politician tries to resurrect them.
So it is with the controversial $1.6 million customs facility at Witham Field, Martin County’s Airport. Martin commissioners considered the proposal eight times before they finally rejected it last March by a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Doug Smith and John Haddox in favor.
The facility would have let aircraft and boat owners pay to clear customs at Martin’s airport instead of checking in for free at federal facilities in West Palm Beach or Fort Pierce.
Last week, Smith, running again for commission in District 1, invited business representatives and residents to a cocktail reception at Stuart Jet Center to kick off his campaign and “display your continued support for our customs facility finally being built at Witham Field.”
His upbeat email is headlined “Let Martin Thrive, Keep Customs Alive!”
The timing of a “Bring Back Customs” rally seems off, since airport neighbors in Stuart suffer the most during the tourist season, when wealthy visitors jet in and out at all hours. Indoors or outdoors, roaring engines kill conversation and disturb sleep for those who live nearby.
Some residents opposed the customs facility, fearing it would lead to an increase in air traffic and noise. Airport and other business representatives supported it. The lowest bid to build it was $200,000 over budget, and it would have needed county money to operate.
Since Smith has made the customs facility a campaign issue, his District 1 opponents deserve a chance to weigh in.
Henry Copeland of Jensen Beach has opposed the facility in the past and continues to oppose it. It “will inevitably increase flight operations,” Copeland said, posing “safety, environmental and quality of life concerns” to airport neighbors in Stuart.
Those concerns,” he writes in an email, “outweigh providing a convenience service to our general aviation and boating communities and a promise of modest tourism and business growth.”
Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, also running for Smith’s job, wouldn’t say yes or no. “I can understand supporting a customs facility as there would be convenience and monetary benefits to our community,” she said in an email. “As exciting as the idea is, it is better at this time to focus on higher priorities like catching up on millions of dollars in deferred maintenance” to county roads, bridges and buildings.
The county “must get our house in order first and then set a vision together for the future.”
That sounds as if she wouldn’t support another go at the customs facility now, but might be open to it later if residents want it. Well, maybe. Or maybe not. Thurlow-Lippisch refused to say yes or no.
Candidates in the other two commission races may jump into the fray if Smith manages to make the customs facility a big deal in his race.
Incumbent Commissioner Anne Scott, in District 3, switched sides to vote against the facility last year, saying businesses used “unreliable data” to promote it and projections of building costs “proved untrue.” She also cautioned against “committing public funds for private interests.” Incumbent Commissioner Haddox, running in District 5, opposed the facility before he was elected and later supported it.
If a future commission decides to resurrect the customs facility, it would have to start from scratch. For now, voters get an early look at where candidates stand (except for Thurlow-Lippisch) on an issue that apparently will continue to haunt Martin County residents.
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Sally Swartz is a former member of The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board. Her e-mail address is [email protected] Column courtesy of Context Florida.
