Houston airport ballot question rejected by city attorneys
The proposed ballot question would give voters a say on the future of a city airport project.
What you need to know:
- A proposed Houston ballot initiative that would give voters a say on whether city officials can work toward building a municipal airport was rejected this week by legal officials, who said the proposal violates state law.
- Former City Council member Lance Wilson and Wayner Oliver, a former City Council candidate, filed the initiative application and plan to appeal the rejection. Houston Mayor Carter Cole plans to develop his own version of the initiative, which would need City Council approval and would appear on a general election ballot in October.
- The measures are related to a city effort led by Cole to annex and set aside land that could ultimately be used for a large municipal airport.
HOUSTON - A proposed ballot initiative that would give city voters a say on whether Houston officials can work toward building a municipal airport was rejected this week because it violates Alaska state law, city legal officials said.
The initiative sought to ask voters whether the city should be required to get voter approval before spending money and resources on an airport or working to acquire state land for such a project.
The measure was rejected because putting the decision in voters' hands would bypass the city's Planning and Zoning Commission, a step blocked by state law, city attorneys Joseph Levesque and River Sterne wrote in a Feb. 14 letter denying the request.
Houston Mayor Carter Cole said he plans to develop his own version of the ballot initiative. That proposal must be approved by the City Council and would appear on ballots in the next general election.
Details on how his proposal will differ from the one the city’s attorneys rejected are still being developed, Cole said in an interview Tuesday.
The rejected initiative petition was filed Feb. 1 by former Houston Deputy Mayor and Council member Lance Wilson, who resigned in 2022, and Wayne Oliver, who lost a bid for City Council to Cole last year.
Wilson said they plan to appeal the rejection in court.
At issue is a city effort spearheaded by Cole to set aside land that could be used for a municipal airport. First introduced in July, the plan designates a swath of land for the project outside Houston city limits in Willow. The bulk of the land is managed by the state's Department of Natural Resources and is large enough to accommodate a nearly 2-mile runway capable of receiving cargo jets.
If approved by the City Council, the project would likely begin as a small airport owned and managed by the city, with room for future expansion, Cole said last year.
The airport is needed for economic growth in the region, Cole said. He does not intend to develop a large runway or airport, he said in an interview Tuesday.
Cole said the project would likely cost millions of dollars, with funding coming from state or federal sources. The city must also annex the land identified for the project, a process that requires city council and state approval.
Houston does not currently own an airport. Several private or state airstrips are available in surrounding communities. Both Wasilla and Palmer oversee their own municipal airports.
Critics of the Houston airport proposal, including Wilson, said the city does not need its own airport. An airport is not included in the city's comprehensive plan, and members of the public have not expressed support for it, he said.
Wilson said his proposed ballot initiative is intended to let voters decide whether the city should pursue the project.
“We would like to see the resources pulled and this whole process be put back on track to go into a more formal public planning process. Start from the beginning – not from the end,” he said.
A ballot initiative application, like the one filed by Wilson and Oliver, is the first step for residents who want to place a question on a city ballot.
Applications must include the signatures of 10 registered city voters and are reviewed by the city clerk and a city-appointed legal team.
Approved applications trigger a second petition process. If enough signatures are gathered within 60 days – a threshold based on a state law that requires signatures from 25% of the turnout in the last general election, or about 70 Houston voters – the petition is certified and scheduled for an election.
-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com
This article was updated Feb. 19 to clarify that the application would not trigger a special election if approved.
