DeKalb County Commissioners approved a $45 million airport expansion plan at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) after years of opposition from a dedicated group of residents.
Sky Harbor Group Corporation is an aviation infrastructure company that builds home campuses for business jets. White Plains, NY-based Sky Harbor will move forward with plans to build eight aircraft hangars on 13 acres on the east side of PDK.
The county estimates the contract could generate $576,607,163 in revenue over 50 years, of which $211,270,337 would go to DeKalb County.
The board voted 6-1 in favor of the contract.
Commissioner Michelle Long Spears was the lone vote against the Sky Harbor contract, emphasizing the need for “transparent, data-driven decision-making.” She suggested waiting for the outcome of an ongoing air and noise study before moving forward with large-scale aviation expansion.
“The District 2 office has heard from more than 700 people in the PDK Airport area. The vast majority of people have expressed opposition to the expansion of airport operations. There have been many concerns about the health impact of noise and jet fuel emissions in the environment,” Long Spears wrote in an email newsletter to voters. “We pledge to be committed to the health and safety of residents affected by this decision.”
PDK Watch, led by resident Larry Foster, opposes expansion. Foster said Sky Harbor plans to base larger and noisier aircraft that cause more pollution at PDK than previously allowed.
Public opposition to the plans has continued to block efforts to approve the Sky Harbor contract for more than two years, which the opposition says will reduce the quality of life in northern DeKalb County.
“I believe there will be a long-term, painful decline in the quality of life for Northeast Atlanta residents over the next five decades and more. But who knows what will happen. History is full of surprises. Perhaps an overburdened Sky Harbor company will simply go bankrupt if the economy slumps over the next six months or more,” Foster told Rough Draft.
Steve Racine, who lives under PDK’s flight path, is a pilot.
“These companies do not have the best interests of the residents of DeKalb County at heart, nor do they care about our community or the reduced quality of life we will experience as a result of this contract,” Racine said during the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners meeting.
Research is being conducted into the noise and emissions associated with the new hangar activity. The results of the full environmental study are expected in the summer of 2026; However, preliminary findings estimate that the impact of development on the east side will be minimal.
PDK has been monitored for environmental effects for more than ten years. In a 2012 environmental studyThe findings show that “the concentrations of pollutants found both on the PDK Airport property and in the surrounding community are consistent with those found in metropolitan Atlanta as a whole and in other metropolitan areas across the country.”
The investigation is performed by HMM and paid for by DeKalb County.
PDK marks the company’s 20th location. Sky Harbor owns hangars in Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, Nashville, TN and San Jose, CA. Expansion to Chicago. Long Beach, CA is expected in 2026.
In a statementSky Harbor CEO Tal Keinan said the move is a “triple win.”
“First, for the citizens of DeKalb County, who will benefit from job growth, direct revenue and a reduced airport noise footprint; second, for Atlanta’s business aviation community, whose members have vigorously sought to secure a Sky Harbor HBO campus at PDK; and third, for Sky Harbor,” Keinan said. “This is the culmination of a five-year effort to become the number one airport in one of the nation’s most robust and fastest-growing business aviation markets.”
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