Mayor Ken Welch’s administration has done an about-face on turning Albert Whitted Airport into something else, a idea he brought up one month after arriving at City Hall three years ago.
Now, St. Petersburg is on the doorstep of accepting a state grant that would require Albert Whitted to function as an airport for the next 20 years. Approval sailed through its first City Council public hearing unanimously Thursday with no discussion and will come back up for a final vote May 1.
“The data and the facts led me to not pursue a non-aviation use,” Welch said Wednesday.
As the city was master planning for the airport and the area around it, Welch announced in 2022 that the 119 acres of downtown waterfront should be looked at for a broader community use. It is a contentious idea that is floated every now and then. Voters in 2003 overwhelmingly turned out to keep Albert Whitted operating as an airport “forever.”
St. Petersburg is considered the birthplace of commercial aviation, as the world’s first commercial flight took off on the waterfront near downtown to Tampa.
Albert Whitted was eyed as a potential site for a Tampa Bay Rays stadium in 2022, but a Rays official later ruled out anything on the waterfront because of rising seas expected with climate change.
Welch pressed on with hiring a company to do an economic analysis of the airport and its value compared to other things that could go there. Ideas included such things as an expansion of the city’s innovation district, more park space or workforce housing.
The council rejected spending $300,000 for that study and instead spent it on an urban tree planting program.
Then last July, Welch sent a memo to council members that he was discontinuing the study of non-aviation uses for the airport. He said he would instead conduct an internal study of the airport and identify ways to increase equity and citywide impact of the airport.
“My focus and decision-making have been informed by the growth of our city, the evolution of mobility technologies, the increasing clarity of the impact of sea-level rise on possible development opportunities and other realities,” he wrote.
Welch said that most importantly, the airport is key during disaster recovery. Former President Joe Biden flew into Albert Whitted in Marine One after surveying the damage from hurricanes Helene and Milton last year. Welch noted that in a situation where bridges to Pinellas County could be washed out from a hurricane, supplies and relief could be flown in.
“I think it was proven when we were able to fly President Biden in along with, you know, reporters ... to that airport,” he said. “Now, of course, depending on the storm, that could be underwater, but in this case, it was something that was usable. And so the more I thought about it, researched it, the possible scenario of having no bridge access, you know, all those things kind of played into it.”
The city also created a task force to look at advanced air mobility for Albert Whitted. That group is studying electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, called “eVTOL,” to potentially transport people and cargo there. Former council member Ed Montanari, a retired commercial pilot and staunch supporter of Albert Whitted, is Welch’s pick to serve on that group.
Welch recently declared April 5 as Friends of Albert Whitted Scholarship Day. Friends of Albert Whitted Airport, a group that raises money for educational and financial support of future pilots, recently gave out 29 scholarships totaling $184,000.
The mayor took issue with public access to the airport, but said the scholarships “were a good way to embrace that.”
“I think seeing what it can be for disaster recovery, for new technology, what we can do to expand access for the community, those are things that align with our principles,” he said.
The city is one approval away from accepting a $134,800 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation for replacing equipment at the airport, though it also restricts the property to airport uses for 20 years. Albert Whitted is largely subsidized by the federal and state government.
Jack Tunstill, a pilot instructor and chairperson of the Albert Whitted Airport Advisory Committee, chalked Welch’s change of heart up to being a politician and moderating his stance. Tunstill is more focused on the city picking up the pace on fixing up the airport, which was battered by hurricanes.
The city spent $1.1 million to remove crushed hangars, but there’s still work to be done. He said the city is still waiting on money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is figuring out how to spend that money across all city facilities that need repairs.
“The airport’s an important asset and we continue to make it part of the community with the events down there, events for kids,” Tunstill said. “It’s part of the fabric of the city and the hurricanes kind of put a dent in it.”
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