CAN THIS IDEA REALLY "FLY"?

On Wednesday, the Central Florida Regional Planning Council will hear a proposal from the Van Fleet International Airport Development Group in Lakeland for a major cargo airport and development to be built on reclaimed phosphate land straddling the Polk-Hardee county line north of State Road 62 and east of State Road 37.

According to the Lakeland Ledger story, the group has acquired the option on 22,443 acres of previously mined phospate land mostly in Hardee County and is currently going through the approval process. Currently the only access to the location is a series of two lane roads.

The plans for the site, besides the airport, call for warehousing and other light industrial development as well as office, commercial centres, and residential development.

This project, still well into it's infancy, will have a lot of hoops to jump through. A myriad of reviews and approvals by numerous local, state, and federal agencies, including FDOT and the FAA, before it can come close to reality. That, of course, is on top of the $850 million price tag.

This isn't the first time that such an idea has been floated for the area. Five years ago, the head of a Tampa think tank announced plans to build a major international airport near the site which could accomodate jumbo jets, but it turned out to be only a dream.

It's an interesting idea. The land isn't good for much else, and it's in the middle of nowhere, for all intents and purposes, so the effect of noise and other enviromental factors will be much less than elsewhere in the area. But it would require a substantial financial commitment from state and local officials to make the infastructure suitable for such a development. And that could be the biggest hoop the Van Fleet group will face in building the Florida International Airport, considering the current budget pressures in Tallahassee, Bartow, and Sebring.