What Will Become of the Braden Airpark?

One day, Braden Airpark might not be an airport.

While the consultant for the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority has decided not to buy the Sullivan Trail site in Forks Township, the airpark still could be sold.

But that depends on whether the consultant, the Rockefeller Group, decides whether the 80-acre site could be transformed into something suitable for a developer.

Forks Township officials recently held a meeting with LNAA representatives and the consultant, part of initial meetings the authority also had with East Allen and Hanover townships.

"It was great, beneficial to us, beneficial to them," Supervisors Chairman Erik Chuss said.

Chuss said airport authority representatives may be returning to talk more in January and may also meet with the Business and Commerce Association of Forks Township.

Forks officials said they provided an overview of the site, stating how Braden was sold in 1999 to LNAA, and also about some of the lawsuits around that area, including one over the Weis Markets, which is across from the airport.

Chuss said Forks officials went through all of the zoning while airport representatives asked about possible zoning for industrial and commercial uses.

"We told them we wanted to keep the town center in the town's center," Chuss said. "We didn't encourage or discourage anything. We just let them know the facts."

Forks officials also provided an aerial of the tract and stressed that they wanted to have public participation as the report and any future use of the airpark proceed.