Changes are coming to Ohio State’s Don Scott Airport, and neighbors of the facility are concerned about problems.

Doug Hammon, director of the airport, said he is waiting for approval to begin a 20-year plan of developing the grounds and some of the buildings on the airport.

He said some of the changes that might occur are lengthening one of the runways, designing new hangars, building a terminal, adding some more security measures and further development of the north side of the area.

“The biggest change will be doubling the length of one of the runways from 3,000 to 6,000 feet,” he said.

The runway will be lengthened for safety reasons and in an attempt to lessen the aircraft noise.

Hammon said the longer runway will be safer because pilots will have more room for landing and taking off. He said there are a number of variables that will help mitigate noise.

“It will be moved away from larger subdivisions in the area, and we will be able to traffic over the runways instead of homes,” Hammon said. “Also, because it will be longer, planes will be able to come in higher.”

Many neighbors of the airport are concerned.

Mary Taplan, who lives across the street from the airport, said she is worried it will to bring in larger planes.

“It can already get pretty loud living so close,” she said. “I guess I just associate a larger runway with bigger, louder jets.”

Hammon said there are no plans to land larger aircrafts at the facility because the staff already accomodates the largest planes they can.

“We take anything smaller than a 737, which needs 8,000 feet to land,” he said. “We also will not bring in commercial jets because we are banned to do it, and we have no reason to want to bring them in.”

Joe Bratling, another member of the community, said the noise can be annoying, but he appreciates what the airport is doing to accomodate those in the area.

“People knew there was an airport across the street when they moved here,” he said. “The airport is doing all it can to help reduce the noise.”

Hammon said the development is in the early stages and ground will probably not be broken for another couple of years. There must first be an environmental assesment to factor in noise and other possible concerns.

Airport personnel will hold a series of public workshops for members of the community to hear what is being planned, he said.

“This development is something we need, something the pilots need and something the community needs,” he said.