Annual Meeting

F.A.N.G.

As most of you know, WAAM and CCC have joined together along with two of our residents, John Zeigler and Lynne Pine, and filed a lawsuit against Martin County for relief on the flawed Airport Master Plan.
There are few of you if any, that are not affected by the growth at Witham - noise - pollution - loss of property values being just of the few of the issues. This lawsuit is designed to protect your rights and interests. We have without question been denied due process by the current County Commission and this must be corrected!

On November 2, 2001, we sent a letter to more than 1710 supporters of our organizations. This letter explains our position and describes our goals. It also asks for your support.

We can't begin to tell you how important winning this suit is to our community. We have the law on our side, we are right in what we are doing, but it does cost money. Attorneys fees and costs associated with the lawsuit can be quite large, but it must be done.

We ask that you find it in your heart to make a contribution to the "F.A.N.G." account which is solely for the pursuit of this legal issue.

Without your help, we will fail - with your help we will prevail.

Winning this lawsuit will protect your rights and property values. We will have a better and stronger Martin County government and a County Commission that will listen to your concerns, even if they disagree! I know that may sound extremist to them, but it is good government for the rest of us. Support our fight!

Please Contribute as much as you can.

(click on this link to view contribution request letter)

December 6th, 2001

We held our first meeting tonight of the volunteers that will be serving on the Oversight Boards.

1 -	Airport Noise Advisory Board
2 -	Airport Finance Oversight Board

If you would like to volunteer for these boards, either call us at
(561) 223-7501 or send us an email and we will contact you.
Click here to send us an email

August 20, 2001

WAAM Board of Directors meeting on Monday, August 20th, 2001

- John Mirlisensa resigned from the WAAM board.
- Carol Burke was elected to serve on the WAAM board.
- John Whitescarver is acting president.

Monday - May 14 - 6:30pm
Annual Meeting - Blake Library
Sewall's Point Mayor Robert Weinke &
Gary Johnson of FOM Spoke at General Meeting

The annual meeting was a great success with lots of "spirited" conversation.
Mayor Weinke spoke about how the various groups had contributed to the issues and that we do make a difference. He also informed the group of the upcoming MPO meeting how important it is for the public to participate.

Gary Johnson made his presentation and answered many questions about his proposal to move the airport. The most important message he was able to give was that his proposal was not a new version of the "AEROPLEX". Gary Johnson's proposal is to move the existing airport operations to a different location, not build a Super Jetport.

Members of the Friends of Witham were quite upset at what they thought was a violation of the 11 point agreement that had just been worked out, signed and presented to the County Commission. In fact, allowing Gary Johnson to speak at the meeting in no way violated that understanding. WAAM has stated many times that they would not initiate moving the airport. In allowing Gary Johnson to present his proposal, WAAM has done nothing more than present their membership with one of many views on the airport issue.

Board Members Hard at Work Getting Newsletter Sealed and Mailed

Monday August 6, 2001
Press Release Approved by WAAM Board of Directors

PRESS RELEASE

On July 24, the Martin County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved the Airport Master Plan under the pretense that this plan had been approved by a consensus of the Planning Advisory Team (PAT). Nothing could have been further from the truth. Three members of the PAT had approved the plan, but seven (7) members of the PAT, a majority, had voted to not approve the Airport Master Plan as presented because it was inaccurate and incomplete. Despite strenuous objections of the PAT majority, this plan was presented and approved by our County Commissioners.

With the exception of Commissioners Weberman and DiTerlizzi, the Commission also threw out hundreds of hours of work done by WAAM and the Friends of Witham who had worked together to execute an 11 point agreement covering airport operations and growth. A major point of that agreement was the preservation of land along Monterey Road to be used as a Conservation area. The County Commission had accepted this 11 point agreement a few short months ago with praise given to these two groups for their efforts, but at the July 24 meeting the County Commission violated and ignored that agreement by approving rezoning with the intent to develop the Conservation area into office buildings and an office park. It is important for residents to realize that any monies made on airport property can only be used on airport projects and must remain in the airport general fund. These monies cannot be used for county wide projects to provide taxpayer relief. Businesses located on airport property also pay no valorem (real estate) taxes and have a distinct competitive advantage over other businesses in the area. We do not believe this is either fair or necessary.

It should be noted that the preservation of this land had been recommended and approved by the Martin County Regional Land Trust, a majority of the PAT, WAAM, Friends of Witham, Friends of Martin and the Concerned Citizens Coalition (CCC).

Also at the July 24 meeting a flawed, inaccurate and misleading Economic Study was re-introduced into the Airport Master Plan by Commissioner Elmira Gainey. This was done in spite of the fact that the majority of the PAT members had soundly rejected it, and every group and organization that had seen this economic study criticized its methodology and accuracy. Even the airport director, Michael Moon had agreed that this report should not be included in the final Airport Master Plan. But despite this and at the direction of Commissioner Gainey, this report was re-introduced and the Martin County Commission unanimously approved the inclusion of this report into the Airport Master Plan. The inclusion of this flawed Economic Study will have far reaching effects on future growth initiatives of the airport by distorting and greatly exaggerating any financial advantages to the community.

The Martin County Commission in approving the Airport Master Plan in the face of such opposition has shown a compete disregard for the public's input and the community's quality of life. By such actions they in less than two hours destroyed more than 1½ years and the thousands of hours of work by dedicated citizens who voluntarily participated in the planning process. No less important was the waste of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

Such irresponsible actions by our elected officials will certainly discourage future participation by dedicated and responsible citizens from volunteering their time and efforts in the future, when it is obvious that their findings may be completely disregarded in the end.

WAAM bitterly opposes such actions as were taken by the County Commission on July 24 and feel that such actions show a callous disregard for both the master plan committee it appointed as well as the public good.

/s/ Board of Directors

Witham Airport Action Majority (WAAM)