ST. JAMES CITY, Fla. It’s a question of what’s worse — mosquitoes or the fight against them.
The Lee County Mosquito Control District, which uses Buckingham Airport in Lehigh Acres for its aerial spraying efforts, wants to buy the private Woodstock Airport on Pine Island, arguing it’s a more efficient location.
But residents like Debbie Memoli, who works across the street from the Woodstock Airport, are concerned about noise, air traffic and the lack of information they’ve received about the district’s plans.
“I just don’t think it’s right,” she said. “I look out here 10 hours a day, this is where my office is and I’m not happy about it.”
Memoli heard about the plans a couple of weeks ago through a rezoning notice in the mail, she said.
“There hasn’t been hardly any information on it,” she said. “We don’t have plans on it; we don’t know what they’re doing with it.”
Shelly Redovan, deputy director of the district, said the purchase wouldn’t cause a significant change in flight patterns and will allow helicopters to fly directly to marsh areas.
“You could actually leave a helicopter or a couple of helicopters there during the evening and then start up the next day straight from there, as opposed to the transition time coming from Buckingham out there” Redovan said.
The district will make its case at a public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at the Pine Island Fire Department on 5700 Pine Island Rd. in Bokeelia.