NAPLES: In a 4-3 vote Wednesday night, the Naples City Council passed the Naples Airport runway expansion.
Approximately 300 people showed up at Naples City Hall for Wednesday's city council meeting, where discussions were held on whether to expand a runway at the Naples airport.
The council met in front of a standing room only crowd, with a large overflow crowd just outside. They broke for dinner after four hours of discussion, and only just getting into public comments.
However, sat for hours in order to speak out.
Naples resident, Pamela Wood said, "Where we live, there's already plenty of noise, and the thought of having more airplanes and bigger airplanes is just too much."
The expansion, proposed by the Naples Airport Authority, will add 510 feet to the southwest end of the runway, and another 800 feet to the northeast end.
"These airplanes fly right over the top of my residence, especially Thursday through Sunday," resident John Westemeyer says. "They fly in with a few people on them and fly right back out with nobody on them."
There were several that are in support of the expansion, arguing that more room for pilots to land would actually make the city safer.
Supporter, Scottie Yaeger, says, "In terms of safety and especially for noises, even though the detractors are trying to tell epople differently, the facts support the safety issue and the noise issue."
According to airport authority board members, the goal is to give planes and pilots more room to take off. But the expansion could also open up the airport for bigger planes, which is an issue that opponents worry would create more noise.
That issue was the biggest complaint that council members received on the expansion. Because of that, a plane weight limit may be put in place now that the expansion is approved.