It’s back to the drawing board for the possibility of privatizing Gwinnett’s Briscoe Field airport; a process that has been in the works for years and led to deep-rooted debates throughout the county.

Briscoe Field, located near Lawrenceville, is a county-run airport that serves small aircraft and corporate jets. In 2009, it was announced that the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners would accept proposals to privatize Briscoe Field and expand it for commercial use.  The same year, Propeller Investments, a New York-based firm, approached the board about privatizing Briscoe. Propeller Investments has remained the most interested firm throughout the process.

The county has received permission from the FAA to sell Briscoe Field to a private company, but that’s where the process began to cause controversy.  According to the original FAA timetable, the commissioners would have awarded a contract to a private company before opening the process to the public. Meanwhile, opinions about selling the airport to a private company differed widely, both among board members and in the community.

Those in favor of privatization, such as the group Fly Briscoe, say the expansion could create thousands of jobs, relieve traffic at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, allow for infrastructure improvements, and add about $1 billion to the local economy each year.

Others, such as the group Citizens for a Better Gwinnett, argue that noise from the airport has already lowered surrounding property values and that expanding the airport would have a negative impact on the environment.

Public outcry from those against the expansion, as well as those who were upset that citizens were essentially locked out of the process, caused the board to stop the process and allow public involvement in April 2011. The following month, the board voted 3-2 to seek proposals from three private companies.

This summer, the commissioners sought the opinion of consulting group Infrastructure Management Group, Inc., who recommended the board go back to the beginning by first determining whether a commercial airport would fit in Gwinnett, and then deciding whether or not to lease or sell the property to a private company. The consultants also urged the board to include the public throughout the process.

IMG specifically encouraged the board to set a specific goal for the airport (with the citizens’ support), study the financial feasibility and economic impacts the airport would have, and to consider a commercial airport’s effect on the surrounding environment.

During another round of reports in September, two IMG consultants recommended the commissioners separate the issues and consider privatizing the airport for general (rather than commercial) aviation, because no government-operated airport has ever successfully transferred directly to commercialization. The board could consider allowing passenger jets at a later time.

The board has formed citizen’s groups to provide local input about the expansion possibilities, and the process is ongoing.