CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne sent letters to the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday raising concerns about how a proposed Cleveland Browns stadium near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport would impact traffic, security, noise and emergency access.
In his letter to ODOT, Ronayne requested a meeting with the agency and said there needs to be a comprehensive traffic study of the area around the 176-acre stadium district site, due to the possibility of "increased congestion and delays" for drivers.
Ronayne raised questions about the impact that additional traffic for large events could have on the busiest airport in the state.
"The site relies on the same I-71 corridor and feeder streets that airport traffic relies on, limiting predictable inflows and outflows of traffic," Ronayne wrote.
He also expressed concerns that traffic could cause logistical complications for shipping, since the airport is a distribution hub for FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service.
Browns owner Haslam Sports Group paid for a preliminary traffic and infrastructure study for the Brook Park project last year. A more detailed traffic analysis is underway and should be finished within the next few months, Dave Jenkins, the team's chief operating officer, said during a public meeting this week.
Brook Park is seeking a $71 million state grant, through a competitive ODOT program, to help pay for ramp and road improvements around the site. ODOT's Transportation Review Advisory Council is expected to reach a decision on that funding early next year.
Last month, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency's board of directors voted not to support that Brook Park application — saying the metropolitan planning agency didn't have enough information about the project yet.
"Staff analysis noted that the project is neither currently in the agency’s Long-Range Plan, nor has it been through the Project Plan Review process," Ronayne, the president of NOACA's board, wrote in his letter to ODOT. "To assess any prospective infrastructure investment for the area requires a comprehensive traffic analysis that includes the needs of adjacent communities, as well as the airport."
In a separate letter to the FAA, Ronayne said he wants clarity about the stadium district's "potential impacts on air traffic operations" at Hopkins.
The stadium proposal "raises several pressing concerns," he wrote, asking the agency to answer the following questions:
- Has the FAA been formally engaged as it pertains to the development site's proximity to the airport's takeoff and landing corridors?
- What, if any, risk assessments have been conducted or are planned to determine the impact of large-scale, high-attendance events on air traffic operations, particularly during peak flight hours?
- How would the FAA's policies regarding security zones, noise exposure, and emergency access apply to a stadium located so close to a commercial air hub?
Ronayne has requested a formal briefing between the FAA and the county to address his concerns.
In late May, the FAA issued a determination letter saying that the stadium, which would be sunk 80 feet into the ground, will not be a hazard to air navigation, based on an aeronautical study. But buildings on the site must be marked and lit up to meet FAA requirements, according to the letter.
Ronayne's letters to public agencies come just days after dozens of union leaders and laborers attended a public meeting at the Brook Park Recreation Center, where the suburb's planning commission voted to advance a rezoning of the future stadium site.
What happened at that meeting:
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