Questions arose during last week’s Fairhope City Council meeting about the city’s airport, with Mayor Karin Wilson saying she wanted to exercise a contract and take back property purchased by the Airport Authority. Wilson told the council she had concerns about 251 acres of property the Airport Authority purchased back in 2007 with the city’s help. The city helped the Airport Authority finance $8.75 million for the purchase of the property and other expansion needs via a bond issue, which Wilson said the city has been paying $500,000 per year to each year. Wilson questioned why further development had not been recruited to the property within the time the Airport Authority had been overseeing the property. “While I do see the potential there, I do think that your goals for the airport and the goals for me as the mayor and having something that benefits all the citizens of Fairhope are two different things,” Wilson said. “Because this represents 20 percent of our debt, we have to look at a way for the city to try to develop it.” Wilson said she wanted to exercise a clause in the city’s contract with the Airport Authority to take back the land for $10 and have the city renegotiate the loan on the property. “We’ve been paying for this since 2007,” Wilson said. “I think that myself and the economic developer I want to hire are in a better place to bring something that will be a benefit to all of our citizens. I think nine years is enough. We want to help the airport be the best it can be, but we have to develop in a way that is best for Fairhope and its citizens.” The council questioned whether the move would actually be in the best interest of the city and its residents. “If we take it back, it’s still subject to the same mortgage,” Councilman Jimmy Conyers said. “I have concerns about whether this would affect the FAA grant tied to the property.” Wilson said she had no plans to change any negotiations with the FAA and any development tied to those grants. Council President Jack Burrell said there has been a considerable amount of economic development at the airport “At the end of the year, we’ll be at about $8 million worth of improvements, not counting private hangars,” Burrell said. “I may be best left with the airport authority because only the part that is not permanent property reverts back to the city. The city doesn’t get the runway back, the aprons, the taxiways. If the land that comes back to the city is reduced by those parcels of land, you’ve got $7.4 million to recover on a much smaller parcel of land.” Burrell said that was a risk he wasn’t sure the city should take. “I think it’s almost a wash,” Burrell said. “I think we might be tying our own hands if the city takes the land back. I don’t know that we want to upset the apple cart.” Wilson said she just wanted the city to have a larger role in managing the property. “I’m saying that the city needs to be a bigger part of it and the city needs to take back the land because we’ve been the ones paying for it,” Wilson said. “We’ve had this conversation for a long tim and I still have not heard a logical reason why we should not do that.” Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance Director Lee Lawson was in the audience for the meeting, and the council questioned him as to which option might be better from an economic development standpoint. Lawson said from an economic development standpoint, ownership wasn’t a huge concern. “It doesn’t matter who owns the title to the land,” Lawson said. “We’re going to keep bringing companies out there. What they want to know is who the clear communication path is. We can’t bring them to talk to 10 people - we have to have a point person to bring them to, so that is what will have to be clear no matter who owns the title to the land.” The council declined to take action on the mayor’s proposal at that time, but said they looked forward to further discussions at future meetings.