Source: http://wvmetronews.com, July 13, 2017
By: Carrie Hodousek
Charleston’s Yeager Airport has entered into a partial settlement with an engineering firm it sued following the 2015 hillside collapse at the end of the airport’s main runway.
Yeager’s Resolution Committee announced Thursday it has settled with Triad Engineering, Inc. for $900,000.
“It releases the officers and their company assets from any claims that we would have against them,” explained Airport Director Terry Sayre.
Yeager has been tied up in litigation against a number of defendants, including Triad, in connection with the construction of the airport’s EMASS system on the runway extension. The system collapsed on March 12, 2015.
“There’s never a perfect decision when you have lawsuits and things of that nature, so it’s the best deal for today,” Sayre said.
Several other lawsuits in connection with the collapse remain unsettled.
The airport has struggled to come up with enough money to pay for a temporary slope repair. Sayre said they’re in constant communication with the Federal Aviation Administration in hopes of receiving funds for a short term fix.
“Hopefully get a grant in hand for that, which would be a substantial grant — probably somewhere between $10-20 million to where we can start work,” he said.
The long term goal, Sayre said, is to extend the other end of the airport’s runway into Charleston’s Coonskin Park.
It took close to two years and cost nearly $5 million to remove the more than 550,000 cubic yard of debris off Keystone Drive, located at the base of the slope. The road reopened after debris was completely removed in February.
Sayre said they’re hoping work to rebuild the slope can begin this fall.
“All the mess is cleaned up,” he said. “It’s time to go to work.”