Lucille Lannigan, Growth and Development Reporter

RICHMOND HILL – The Richmond Hill City Council voted against a resolution Monday night that would have withdrawn both political and potential financial support for a proposed Richmond Hill–Bryan County airport, a decision shaped in part by the absence of a key council member who had previously opposed the project.

The resolution was championed by Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Hatala, who was the sole council member to vote in favor. Post 3 Councilmember Van Hunter and Post 4 Councilmember Steve Scholar voted against it.

Post 2 Councilmember Kevin Bowes, who has been vocal in wanting to retract city support for an airport, was absent.

“I don’t want anyone to misunderstand that this resolution says the airport’s coming or not coming,” Scholar said before making his vote. “It just says we’re not going to fund it. The airport authority hasn’t asked us for funding, and if they did, I’d be opposed to that.”

The proposed airport would be a general aviation facility supporting non-commercial flights. Richmond Hill has previously spent about $300,000 on airport feasibility studies.

Discussions date back to 2022, and the Richmond Hill-Bryan County Airport Authority was created by the Georgia Legislature in 2025 after support letters from both the city and county. By leaving room for future support, the city now divides itself from the Bryan County Board of Commissioners, which voted to suspend funding in December.

Construction of a local airport has drawn strong public opposition. Residents filled council chambers Tuesday, with several speakers voicing their support of the resolution.

Tuesday’s vote saw public attendees storming out of the council chambers.

Corey Foreman, who has publicly opposed the airport at council meetings for about a year, said he feels that the council's decision shows it’s not listening to its residents.

“If the job can’t be done in council, then I guess we need a new council,” he said.

He also warned that the city could eventually back bonds for the airport authority, placing financial responsibility on taxpayers. Foreman said to move forward in opposition, the public will have to combat future zoning change requests for a potential airport development.

Kevin Long, a Bryan County resident, said the proposed site for the airport, which rests at the intersection of Belfast Keller Road and U.S. Highway 17, is too close to residential areas, including his own neighborhood. Long called it the area “where it seems like everything’s happening,” alluding to the potential Westwin nickel refinery, which would go into the Belfast Commerce Park.

This area is home to Long’s Waterford Landing neighborhood as well as the newly developed Heartwood and Del Webb communities.

“The airport would be located right off the end of our docks – right where we watch the sunset,” Long said. “When I bought my property there, I never in a million years thought that I would be fighting off an airport or a nickel refinery or anything of that nature.”

He said he’s concerned about low-flying aircraft above his neighborhood, noise and the risk that property values could suffer.

“I'm concerned about the environment,” Long said. “You're talking about filling in all this wetland space when Richmond Hill already had unprecedented flooding in the last few years.”

He criticized Councilman Bose’s absence, especially after the councilmember campaigned for his seat on the promise that he wouldn’t support a future airport project.

“It’s infuriating,” he said. “It’s very suspicious when a key person just doesn’t show up the evening of the vote.”

Mary Beasley, a retired air traffic controller, said safety has not been adequately discussed by councilmembers.

“Not one time at any of these meetings have you talked about safety. It was always money-based,” she said to council members. “The blood is on your hands if an accident happens.”

Meanwhile, aviation supporters argued the region needs additional general aviation facilities.

Stephen Giraud, a pilot and Bryan County resident, dismissed safety concerns. He said the primary challenges are capacity and access, not risk. Giraud currently stores his private aircraft at the Hodges Airpark in Savannah, but he’s waitlisted to store them elsewhere.

Regional airports have plans for expansion and adding more hangars, including the MidCoast Regional Airport, which shared plans that included the addition of more hangars during the April Liberty County Development Authority meeting.

However, Giraud said these expansions “don’t make a dent in the need,” with waitlists exceeding 60 people.

“There’s a need,” Giraud said. “When I came to town, I got on several waiting lists, and they don’t move very fast because there’s … not much turnover.”

Ted Meyer, a Savannah-based pilot and aircraft owner, echoed the need for more hangar storage in the area, but said he’s more in support of the expansion of already existing airports or simply the construction of hangar space in Bryan County instead of a fully functioning general aviation airport.

Meyer said he was encouraged to attend Tuesday’s city council meeting because the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a national aviation community organization that protects the “freedom to fly,” sent out messaging about the meeting to members in the general geographical area.

“We are pretty resource-strained in terms of land area, hangars, and places to store aircraft,” Meyer said. “A lot of us do want to see more aviation facilities here.”

Whether a Richmond Hill-Bryan County Airport comes to fruition is still up in the air and depends heavily on the Georgia Department of Transportation, which is currently engaged in the Southeast Georgia Regional Aviation System Plan. This move is designed to “evaluate the operational capacity and performance of the region’s 13 airports, both today and as future demand grows.”

The study is not being conducted to specifically determine the need for new air facilities but will provide “a comprehensive assessment of current aviation capacity and potential future needs in Southeast Georgia.”

However, Bryan County residents said they aren’t giving up.

“This (resolution) would’ve been a very important step toward getting the county and the city to work together to petition the state to dissolve the airport authority … and it got dismissed,” Long said. “Now, we’re going to keep fighting this thing.”