Proposal rules out Colville airport site

One of the possible sites for a new Colville airport would be eliminated under a proposal before the City Council tonight. The resolution would apply to a controversial site on Aladdin Road, about a quarter-mile north of state Route 20. That site, opposed by neighbors and some civic leaders, is close to Colville High School and the existing airport. Mayor Dick Nichols said the Federal Aviation Administration asked the city to review the sites that were studied the last time it considered a new airport, and the Aladdin Road site is close to one that was on the list in 1996. Other sites under consideration at that time included the preferred location on Vaagen Bros. land near the company’s sawmill at the city’s edge and one about four miles south of the city. The $4.5 million project collapsed when the city and Vaagen Bros. couldn’t agree on a land price.