Trenton-Mercer Airport expansion challenged by Lower Makefield, Yardley and others. Can it stop the project?

Trenton-Mercer Airport will undergo a major expansion next year and a legal challenge filed last month in federal court will not stop nor slow the construction, lawyers said.

On May 19, a petition was filed in the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the FAA's approval of a new Trenton-Mercer airport terminal and parking garage. The petition was submitted by officials from Lower Makefield, Yardley, members of the nonprofit Trenton Threatened Skies, a homeowners association in Mercer County, and 28 residents living near the airport.

Named as defendants in the case are the FAA, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The FAA did not respond to requests for comment on the case.

Mercer County expects to begin work on its new airport terminal and parking garage by mid-2023 and hopes to open the new terminal by 2025.

Officials in Mercer County said they would not comment on the case. "Regarding the county's plans to build a new terminal at Trenton-Mercer Airport, the county is not a named respondent in the petition and has no comment on it," said Julie Wilmont, county spokesperson.

Attorney Steve Taber said his clients' petition cannot prevent officials in Mercer County from moving forward with construction of a new terminal and parking garage. The petition compels the FAA to release an administrative record of its decision, Taber said. The FAA and opponents of the airport could later hold oral arguments before a judge sometime early next year, Taber added.

“We are asking the court to review the FAA’s approval of Mercer County politicians and official’s disingenuous  premise that this massive expansion project, along with related expansion projects at the airport, will have no significant impact on the surrounding region," said Robin Karpf, a member of Trenton Threatened Skies.

In March, the FAA approved plans by Mercer County for a more modern airport, replacing the one constructed in 1975 when Trenton-Mercer averaged just 150 air passengers per day and there was no security screening at airports.

In approving the expansion, the FAA said increased flight traffic at Trenton-Mercer was inevitable and the expansion of the airport would not change that.

Building the new terminal and parking garage won't contribute to the air and noise pollution but make the airport better for passengers, the FAA ruled. The agency forecasted a 51% increase in flights from Mercer County, rising from 316,665 to 476,507 by the year 2035.

Trenton-Mercer Airport plans to quadruple the size of its current passenger terminal and to construct a parking garage for approximately 1,040 vehicles. Passengers currently board and de-plane on the tarmac. One-half of the terminal space was given over to security screening after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

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Opponents of the new airport plan to question the FAA's "Finding Of No Significant Impact" ― the order that gives airport construction the green light, said Taber. The FAA concluded that no additional residents would be impacted by the noise from planes leaving the airport and that there would be no significant impact on the environment.

That's not a true picture of the situation, said Taber.

Petitioners will argue that the FAA failed to conduct a proper environmental and health assessment and did not consider the possible contamination of the Delaware River from increased air traffic over the water.

Officials in Lower Makefield and Yardely did not respond to requests for comment on the case.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Trenton-Mercer Airport expansion opposed by Bucks, Mercer activists