North Elba town Supervisor Roby Politi speaks to the dozens of people in attendance at a public hearing Monday evening at the North Elba Town Hall regarding the town’s airport operation agreement with Steve Short and Adirondack Flying Services. (Enterprise photo — Antonio Olivero)

LAKE PLACID — About 50 people packed a public hearing Monday evening about the town park district’s new five-year fixed-base operation agreement with Steve Short and his Adirondack Flying Service, a family business that has worked out of the airport since 1968.

The vast majority of the more than a dozen people who spoke expressed support for Short, his business and what it brings the Lake Placid community. Under the terms of the agreement, the rate for Short, who is also employed as the airport’s manager, to operate out of the airport would increase each year by 3 percent, or roughly $500.

The praise for Short and his operation included comments from those who described Short’s family operation as a professional one with a proven track record that is respectful of the neighboring town residents and their interests. Other comments included praise of Short for training numerous prospective pilots through the years while also maintaining an employee population here.

One of Short’s supporters was Ed McNeil, an aviator who has two hangars at the airport and has been associated with it for 25 years. He highlighted how the airport serves as a de-facto visitor’s bureau at times and credited Short for the information he shares as the airport’s manager.

“If you think that isn’t a part of this operation, you’re nuts,” McNeil said.

John Trevor, the owner of a property that borders the airport, Snowslip Farm, was also effusive in his support of Short, sharing how he feels Short’s planes have always operated in a responsible manner above his property.”

At the beginning of the public hearing, North Elba town Supervisor Roby Politi stressed that the hearing was specific to the continuation of the general aviation services Short provides at the airport, not about comments or concerns specific to a helicopter operator who flew out of the airport for two weeks earlier this month.

That operator, Saranac Lake-based business Go Aviation, operated its Adirondack Heli Tours the first two weekends of June out of the Lake Placid Airport before the town council asked them to postpone any future flights out of the airport until their aviation credentials were assessed. Go Aviation’s owner Michael Klein of Lake Placid has maintained that because the airport receives federal grant money, the town by law must allow aviation operators other than Short to work out of the airport.

At a board meeting earlier this month, several town council members described Go Aviation’s way of doing business as “arrogant,” as the company did not come to the town council to inform them that they wanted to work out of the airport or to seek approval to advertise their business on a town road. Klein and his business partner Brendan Carberry of Saranac Lake retorted that they had accomplished all of the requirements to operate relayed to them by the park district and Code Enforcement Officer Jim Morganson, though they conceded that they were wrong in setting up on a town road without permission.

Speaking after Monday’s hearing, Klein said his business hasn’t run out of the Lake Placid Airport the last two weekends and emphasized that Go Aviation is interested in reaching out to the community to assuage any concerns about helicopter noise.

“Any airport is going to have noise associated with it,” Klein said. “We don’t think helicopters are particularly more noisy. “We don’t want to make any enemies in the community and so we are open to conversations with those folks to try and minimize the impact of any scenic flights would have.

“The truth of it is,” Klein continued, “there are already scenic flights every day going out of there, doing laps just the same as we would be, and I don’t think we are any more of a noise burden than the airplanes are, and certainly FAA regulation allows us to do that.”

Klein added that Go Aviation is currently working with the town council and the town’s attorney, Ron Briggs, to figure out space for his business at the airport. One of Go Aviation’s concerns at the town council meeting earlier this month was that Short hadn’t responded by email, phone or in person at the airport to their numerous attempts to reach him in an attempt to acquire airport space. Speaking after Monday’s hearing, Klein said he and Short intend to speak in the coming days.

That said, he also relayed that his business is being affected by how this aviation matter has played out.

“All of this came as a surprise,” he said. “It’s a critical time at the end of June. We will notice the impact.”

“I think people are really nervous about the helicopters because they feel they have no say in it,” Carberry added. “And all of a sudden there is going to be a giant helicopter over their house. We are happy to accommodate — we don’t want to be scaring people’s horses, don’t want to be giving people a hard time. We go out of airport all different directions, and if some directions that work better for most people than others, then that’s what we’ll do.”

Carberry was responding to several complaints raised at the meeting about Go Aviation’s helicopter tours the first couple of weeks of the month. Landowners near the airport such as Larry Gibbons and George Fortune said helicopter noise was a concern to their properties. Briggs added that a petition was being circulated about the helicopters, though he cautioned those in attendance that the hearing wasn’t about that matter.

“We’ve had the farm for 30 years and we are very happy with (Short),” Gibbons said. “We 150-percent support him. I would hate to see helicopters come. We’ve had them over a few times. It shakes our whole farm; it scares our horses.”

“I know we are not supposed to comment on the helicopter noise,” said Leslie Trevor of Snowslip Farm, “but it was something in early June I was on the farm working with the horses and suddenly it felt like we had an onslaught of noise with low flying helicopters coming at us. It was affecting our horses and it was affecting our livelihood.”

One speaker at the hearing, Andrew Teig, asked Briggs if there is potentially a conflict of interest with Short as the fixed based operator also serving as the airport manager as well. Briggs replied that he’s been advised by the town’s counsel on the aviation matter, Spiegel & McDermott LLP of Washington, D.C., that this is the way small airports have operated historically. Teig also asked if there was a bid process for the park district agreement, to which Briggs replied the town has the authority to choose a provider if that provider has a proven track record of strong services.

Teig also asked Briggs what the cost of retaining aviation counsel for the town would be, to which Briggs replied an hourly rate of $325 per hour.

One other speaker at the hearing, James McGregor, an airline transport pilot and flight instructor, expressed concerns about possible conflict of interest and security at the airport.

“As someone who is a pilot but not overly rich,” McGregor said, “when I read about people using a public airport for public means and then legal recourse being brought against them possibly because of competition between the airport manager, who also has his own FBO Charter Service, like I said, I’ve been to a lot of airports and that is kind of a little unique and definitely makes me second guess as a working pilot with a working aircraft flying into the area, because I can’t afford to retain a lawyer if someone finds me a threat and takes me to court.”