CHAPEL HILL - The state lawmaker who limited a new panel's search for future airport sites to Orange County says he did so to generate the economic development the county commissioners have failed to attract.

"This is an economic engine," state Rep. Bill Faison said in an interview. "The county should be taking the lead, rather than sitting around grousing about it."

Orange County would not be talking about a new airport if the General Assembly had not approved a bill this summer establishing an airport authority, commissioners Chairman Barry Jacobs said Monday. The 15-member panel will have the power to site, build and operate a new airport to replace UNC's Horace Williams Airport.

For months, Jacobs has said the university failed to communicate with the county after initially informing local officials it was pursuing an airport bill. A public records request by The Chapel Hill News and News & Observer found one letter to the county, from Chancellor Holden Thorp, dated Aug. 12, a day after the governor signed the bill.

Faison said rather than complain about process, the county commissioners should be seizing the opportunity to create new jobs.

An airport could cost $50 million but could generate about that much in annual economic impact, Faison said. A May 2008 consultant's report said a new airport could pump $40 million to $53 million into the local economy, or four times what the consultant estimated Horace Williams generates.

"If you can invest $50 million and get that much back on an annual basis, you'd be crazy not do it," Faison said.

The Democrat, who represents about three-quarters of Orange County by geography, said Alamance County, which has an airport, has a more balanced tax base and lower property taxes because of economic development.

In 2005, when university consultants looked for possible airport sites they considered locations, including in Chatham and Alamance counties, that were within 25 minutes of UNC Hospitals and 30 minutes or more from other airports. The latter is required for federal grants, which can cover 90 percent of most of the costs of a new airport.

Faison said he amended the airport authority bill to limit the authority's jurisdiction to Orange County. He says he wanted to make sure if an airport got built, the benefit would come to Orange County and that the commissioners could not stop it.

"I was really concerned if we didn't get it tied down to the county that they would subtly sabotage the whole process," Faison said.

"The university's been trying to figure out how to close Horace Williams for 15 years or more," he added. "What I would have hoped is that our county commission would have been advocating for the economic impact in Orange County."

Orange County's new economic development director, Bradly Broadwell, talked up an airport's potential at a recent development briefing.

Like Faison, he and others have said an airport and other economic development could help ease the tax burden on property owners.

Property taxes in Orange County contribute 69 percent of the county's general fund, according to a 2008 report by the county's Economic Development Commission. Just over half the land in the county is either tax exempt or taxed at a reduced rate for agriculture or timber production.

At the same time Orange County has the highest tax rate among six Triangle-area counties. Orange County had a county tax rate of 95 cents per $100 of assessed property value last fiscal year. Alamance County had the lowest, at 58 cents per $100.

Jacobs said the county did not oppose an airport when he met with university representatives in February before the bill was introduced.

Rather, Jacobs said he told Kevin FitzGerald, an associate dean of the medical school and the point person for the airport authority, that the county had concerns about the authority having the power of eminent domain and wanted to know where the university was looking.

"We said we would keep an open mind," Jacobs said.

By July, when Jacobs met with new Chancellor Holden Thorp, he said the bill was on its way to passage. At that point, Jacobs said the county was "already fighting a rear guard action" and wanted to make sure the process would respect local zoning regulations.

A group of residents planned to present a petition to the county commissioners Tuesday night asking it to fight the taking of rural land for a new airport. Jacobs expected the commissioners to refer the petition, as is routine, for staff to review.

As for Faison's comments, Jacobs said he had nothing to say on the record.

"Mr. Faison speaks for himself," he said.

Contact staff writer Mark Schultz at 932-2003 or mark.schultz@nando.com

Could an airport go in northern Orange? -- Mark Schultz

CHAPEL HILL -- State Rep. Bill Faison wants a new airport built in Orange County, but not necessarily in White Cross.

A 2005 university consultant's report identified a site in White Cross as the top location, after Raleigh-Durham International Airport, for an airport. Residents there have organized to oppose that possibility.

Faison says a better site is located in northern Orange County.

"I don't think there is any reason this airport needs to be located in White Cross," he said in an interview.

Faison said his preferred site is located off Coleman Loop Road, past the N.C. 86/N.C. 57 intersection northwest of Hillsborough.

"There are not any houses to speak of, if there are any at all," he said. "It would just be a stunning place to put an airport."

Faison, who operates a farm on Efland-Cedar Grove Road, does not think consultants looked that far north last time. But he said that it's probably within the 25-minute drive from UNC Hospitals they wanted.

Kevin FitzGerald, associate dean for business and finance at the UNC School of Medicine, has said the 2005 consultant's report was preliminary and that an airport authority will have to begin a new search process.