Booming St. George sees a new airport as vital to its future

But the potential noise from bigger airliners has construction plans on hold for now. An initial environmental assessment concluded that air traffic from the new site wouldn't significantly impact nearby Zion National Park's peace and serenity. The assessment is being challenged in court by a group that advocates for keeping all canyons and parks pristine.

The court has ordered the FAA to prepare an environmental impact statement that considers all noise sources in the region. That means looking at noise created by flights originating in nearby Las Vegas, Mesquite and Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

"Optimistically, we're hoping the EIS, which began in November of 2003, will be finished in two years," Ulane said. "When it's ready, that document should stand up to any challenge."

Measuring "noise" isn't as easy as it sounds, especially since the FAA and National Park Service have different mandates, he added.

"The EIS has more to do with a national noise policy than it does with the St. George airport," Ulane said. "Over the next couple of months, a decision needs to be made on how to measure noise. Just what is the standard? It's a big challenge. A lot of it hinges on traffic that has nothing to do with us."

Lecia Parks Langston, a regional economist with the state Department of Workforce Services, said along with assessing noise, quantifying the potential economic impact of an airport that hasn't been built yet is difficult. Still, she said, the replacement airport would provide another plus in Washington County's enviable economic portfolio.

"The feverish pace of Washington County's economy has increased. Job growth reached almost 7 percent in December 2003, and unemployment continues to wane," said Langston. "Washington County is just an economic maverick."

While there are charts, graphs, reports and other economic indicators to support Langston's analysis, there's another reliable source to consider — the folks who live here.

More people than ever are calling Dixie home. More than 58,000 people, an 86 percent increase over the past decade, now live in St. George year-round.

The county as a whole increased its population base by more than 5 percent last year, and the area's economy followed suit, according to Langston.

"It's hard to be negative with such positive numbers," she said, pointing to a 6 percent increase in jobs, a drop in unemployment to below 4 percent, and sales figures up 12 percent.

Following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, fewer people traveled, and visitation numbers were down at Zion National Park, which was also true for local airline traffic at the St. George airport.

But 2004 is turning out to be a different story. Of the five national parks in Utah, Zion is the runaway favorite when it comes to visitors. The park recorded an 18.1 percent increase in visitors during the first quarter of 2004 over the same quarter last year, a promising trend if it continues, according to the Utah Division of Travel Development's Web site.

Any way you read the numbers, from the labor market to construction to sales, said Langston, Washington County "just keeps on getting better."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com