In the Nov. 3, 2015, issue of the LaGrange Daily News, an article entitled “Easement cause unease” appeared on the front page. Within that article, it was reported that all home owners — those involved in the easement — had been shown which trees were to be taken down. That statement is not true. I personally have not been shown by any official in this matter which trees would be trimmed or removed from my property.

The article also stated that the highest point of our property we would have 10 feet 4 inches of clearance before the air easements begin, which is true, but it failed to state that we only have 16 feet of clearance above the chimney in our residence. The adjoining property, owner by John Arrington, will have approximately 9 feet of clearance above the chimney on his house.

I understand that in order of our city and county to grow the airport must expand. All we have ever asked of the county and state — GDOT — is for our questions to be answered, which all have not been directly or clearly answered to us, and that we are fairly compensated for damages caused by low-flying aircraft.

What would you do if you were potentially losing all of your trees and planes could fly as low as 16 feet above the chimney in your home? The property has already gone through the condemnation process by our county. Wouldn’t you want to be treated fairly? Not to mention that this process has taken six and one half years and we are still not even close to a resolution.

The property will basically be worthless when the height limits and air rights restrictions are enforced. The air rights easement restricts the use of the property so that it shall not be used in such a manner as to interfere with the operation, development or maintenance of the airport, create electrical interference with radio communication between the airport and aircraft, or otherwise interfere with the operation of air navigation and communication facilities serving the airport, make it difficult for pilots to distinguish between airport and other lights, result in glare in the eyes of pilots using the airport, impair the visibility in the vicinity of the airport, or otherwise endanger the landing, taking off or maneuvering of aircraft. Although we have these restrictions, we have not been informed as to what would cause interference with “communications.”

Don Hale

LaGrange