CLEVELAND — Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne say it's time to close Burke Lakefront Airport - and they're asking Congress for help.
On Wednesday, they took the first formal step toward a possible shutdown by writing to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Republican Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted and Democratic Rep. Shontel Brown. The local officials want the Trump administration's support and an act of Congress to speed up a tricky and uncertain process.
"This is a once-in-a-century opportunity for Ohio," Bibb and Ronayne wrote in a joint letter. "We have a historic opportunity to assemble a continuous downtown waterfront that can accelerate the promise of unobstructed shoreline access, economic vitality and world-class design. Closing Burke will create a lakefront that is accessible to all and make Cleveland competitive with the world's most dynamic waterfront cities."
The move comes less than two weeks after Bibb, who is up for reelection next month, struck a $100 million deal with the Cleveland Browns to end a court fight over the team's planned move to Brook Park.
Now City Hall is focused on what's next for the lakefront - and looking for a win.
The day after Bibb's announcement about the pending settlement with the Browns, Ronayne reached out to the mayor about working together to shut Burke down. "That will give you an expansive opportunity to do something really dramatic with the lake," Ronayne said during an interview last week with News 5.
The city-owned airport spans about 250 acres near the eastern edge of Downtown. There's another 200 or so acres north and east of the runways, including areas where the Port of Cleveland and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers store silt dredged from the Cuyahoga River.
Burke opened in 1947 and serves as a reliever airport, taking pressure off Cleveland Hopkins International Airport by picking up smaller flights and overflow traffic. Most of the take-offs and landings at Burke are private airplanes and medical flights, from air ambulances to pilots moving organs for transplants.
Activity at Burke peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s at roughly 100,000 flights a year, according to a recent study commissioned by the city. Now, though, Burke handles just over 40,000 flights each year.
It also hosts the Cleveland National Air Show, which attracts tens of thousands of attendees on Labor Day weekend every year. No other airport in Cuyahoga County can host the air show in its current form.
Late last summer, city officials released two studies that examined operations at Burke, the potential economic impact of shuttering the airport, and possible paths to a closure.
RELATED: ‘Can we close Burke? We think we can.’ With new data, Cleveland builds case for airport shutdown.
At the time, the Bibb administration was clearly leaning toward a closure — but stopped short of a decision.
Now, the shutdown push is officially on.
In their Wednesday letter, Bibb and Ronayne described the airport as an underused impediment to waterfront access.
"The limited benefits it provides no longer outweigh the opportunity costs of keeping nearly 450 acres of prime downtown waterfront walled off from public use and economic growth," they wrote, suggesting that the land could be used for parks, lakefront trails, along with new development and jobs.
Consultants said last year that the fastest route to a shutdown is an act of Congress. Working exclusively with the Federal Aviation Administration could take years — and it's unclear whether the FAA would sign off.
Cleveland would also have to repay federal grants received for airport projects.
But Congress, through legislation, could speed up the process and cut the strings tied to those FAA grants.
"While the FAA has the authority to approve a closure under existing law, we believe explicit Congressional authorization would provide certainty, accelerate the timeline and eliminate any ambiguity that could delay progress," Bibb and Ronayne wrote in their letter.
They said they'll work together to ensure that essential flights, like medical transportation and business travel, can move to Hopkins, the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights and other regional airports.
Read the full letter below:
Lawmakers respond:
News 5 reached out to representatives for Brown, Moreno and Husted on Wednesday afternoon.
Moreno's office did not immediately respond.
A spokeswoman for Husted sent over a statement:
Senator Husted’s office received the letter today. Our team is reviewing the letter and looks forward to working with the city and county on this effort.
Brown's office released the following statement:
“I strongly support closing Burke Lakefront Airport and reconnecting Clevelanders to our lakefront. Mayor Bibb, County Executive Ronayne, and I all agree that this valuable stretch of shoreline has been walled off from the community for far too long. It’s time to reclaim it, opening public access and building on the exciting progress already happening along the downtown lakefront.
“I’m exploring all available pathways, including federal legislation to expedite the release of the airfield. I look forward to continuing to work with our local leaders, senators, and federal partners to deliver a responsible, coordinated solution that creates lasting economic and community benefits.
“Reclaiming Burke is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to return the lakefront to the people, grow our economy, and help define Cleveland’s future for generations to come.”
Community reaction:
For Aidan Sax, Burke Lakefront Airport is more than just a travel destination.
He told News 5 it’s a place where memories were made and dreams became a reality.
That's why Sax said he doesn't want to see it go.
“The Cleveland community and the community of Greater Cleveland would really be losing a lot of potential,” he said.
Although Sax is hopeful of Burke Lakefront's potential transformation, he said it’s still sad to think Burke might not be open much longer, especially since he spent countless summers checking out the Cleveland National Air Show.
“I have many fond memories,” he said.
Watching planes go by is what motivated Sax to pursue a career as a private pilot.
Sax even had the opportunity to land a major milestone when he recently flew into Cleveland.
“I took my brother up in the airplane and, to get to show him the city from that perspective as a pilot, it was really special to me,” he said. “It deeply saddens me to think that there are children out there who won't get to have the same experiences that I had with their community at that airport.”
News 5 reached out to the area’s three major hospitals to see if and how they use Burke for medical transportation.
University Hospitals declined to comment and MetroHealth said they use Burke Lakefront for some refueling, but the hospital doesn't expect there would be much impact because Metro Life Flight isn't based there.
Cleveland Clinic did not respond right away.
But last year, consultants working for the city reported that nearly a third of all the non-training flights at Burke were health care-related, including patients and organs for transplants at the Clinic.
We also asked the Cleveland National Air Show for their thoughts, and the executive director was not available to comment.
