Airport plan blindsides Paulding residents | www.myajc.com

People in Paulding County are used to relative peace and quiet.

That’s one reason residents were surprised by the news last week that their little airport, now used by small planes and student pilots, could soon have commercial airline service.

Some 35 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta, the remote bedroom community of Paulding County has been hit hard by the housing downturn. Some residents surprised by plans to commercialize their new airport, potentially increasing noise and traffic, are open to the idea that it could bring more jobs. Another reason is that they may have little choice in the matter, after a deal was quietly struck nearly a year ago without public input.

Another is that no one told them such a plan was even in the works until they read or heard about it. Until last week, the county commissioner whose district includes the airport wasn’t even aware of the plan, which thrusts Paulding into the center of the long running issue of whether metro Atlanta needs an alternative to Hartsfield-Jackson International.

“It’s very sneaky the way they did it,” said Jarome Bone, who lives less than two miles from Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport.

Now that word of the project is out, some are concerned about the potential for big jets flying over their homes. Others figure it would bring needed local jobs to a bedroom county badly hurt by the housing bust.

Some 35 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta, the remote bedroom community of Paulding County has been hit hard by the housing downturn. Some residents surprised by plans to commercialize their new airport, potentially increasing noise and traffic, are open to the idea that it could bring more jobs. Another reason is that they may have little choice in the matter, after a deal was quietly struck nearly a year ago without public input.

They may have little choice in the matter, since the 40-year lease that gives New York venture capital firm Propeller Investments rights to space at Paulding Northwest was quietly struck nearly a year ago.

Propeller hopes to announce airline service by the end of the year, while also working to lure aerospace businesses to create jobs.

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