By KATHERINE PETERSEN
NASA officials last week postponed plans to allow commercial air cargo companies to use its facilities.
Opposition from neighboring communities has made the potential cost of a required environmental assessment too high, said Michael Marlaire, a spokesman for NASA, which operates the airfield.
Under a federal program that allows air cargo companies to use military airfields in exchange for offering their aircraft during national emergencies, Moffett officials were considering requests by DHL Worldwide Express and Federal Express.
But residents in the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View complained about the idea, raising concerns over increased noise.
The Sunnyvale City Council last month voted against placing a measure on the November ballot to let voters have their say on the air cargo issue. Voters in the neighboring city of Mountain View will consider the issue at the polls.
Moffett Director Ken Mune-chika said NASA will wait for the recommendations of a community advisory group before pursuing plans on air cargo. The advisory group is being formed by the two cities to study potential community impacts of the proposal and alternatives uses of the airfield.
"I'd like to see what creative solutions the group comes up with. To continue with further analysis of the air cargo proposal would be costly for us," Mune-chika said.
NASA received more than 1,500 questions about it air cargo plan at community meetings. Instead of spending more time and money to answer those question, the agency prefers to concentrate its efforts on other potential tenants, Munechika said.
The space agency has already spent about $75,000 on the air cargo issue and estimates another $50,000 to $75,000 would be spent in completing the environmental assessment, Munechika said.
"Further study would not be a good use of taxpayers' money at this point," he said.
Karen Davis, assistant to the Sunnyvale's city manager, said she thinks the decision to postpone is wise.
"The committee may come up with a recommendation that would not be the same as what's being reviewed in the current assessment. Given that possibility, it's best to wait and see what the recommendation is so you can evaluate what would be potentially implemented," Davis said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, August 28, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.