‘Great news for everybody’: New runway plan at Waukegan airport minimizes need for forest preserve land

A proposed runway improvement project at Waukegan National Airport will be 1,000 feet shorter than originally envisioned, requiring only a sliver — rather than 52 acres — of neighboring forest preserve property.

That's welcome news for the Lake County Forest Preserve District commissioners, who won't have to decide whether to sell a hunk of the Waukegan Savanna Forest Preserve for the project, and grassroots conservationists who have been critical of the plan.

“I'm happy it's going this direction,” said Ty Kovach, the forest district's executive director. “The district never wants to give up property.”

The Waukegan Port District, which owns and operates the general aviation airport, recently said it will be moving forward with a runway project that emerged from a master plan study done more than 20 years ago.

However, a change in federal guidelines means the scope has changed considerably.

“Bottom line, this is great news for everybody,” said Skip Goss, airport general manager. “We really appreciate people's patience.”

When the runway reached the end of its useful life, the airport put forth a $186 million proposal to build a new 7,000-foot runway to comply with modern FAA safety standards.

Forest preserve commissioners in February 2023 approved a nonbinding “memorandum of agreement” but that didn't commit to a land sale. A preliminary environmental assessment was done but there wasn't a public hearing and limited information surfaced since.

According to an FAA spokesperson, the agency previously approved the Gulfstream G-V/550 as the “critical aircraft” — the most demanding aircraft that conducts at least 500 annual takeoffs or landings at the airport. That drives design factors including runway length and width.

But there currently are an insufficient number of G-V operations at longer trip distances to support the 7,000-foot runway length, the spokesperson said.

Goss said the airport “has worked diligently to revise and refine the project” to meet updated federal standards and enhance safety. The cost will be dramatically reduced and the project will have much less impact, he added.

“We're in the process of redesigning the whole thing and redoing the environmental” study, he said.

Removing the public land from the equation is an important step, said Douglas Ower, chair of Sierra Club Woods and Wetlands Group.

But residents still need to see the updated environmental assessment, which will gauge the impact on nearby neighborhoods and schools, he said.

Besides private aviation, the airport is used by law enforcement, the U.S. military and Coast Guard, emergency responders, health care providers, flight training schools and local businesses, Goss said. It contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy annually and supports 900 jobs.

“If you don’t keep your facility viable, people will go elsewhere,” he said.