ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — The on again, off-again proposal to study optional uses for the Albert Whitted Airport property is back on again.

The city is looking for a firm to conduct the study, but the idea isn’t flying for some residents. When Mayor Ken Welch announced a year ago that he wanted to do a study on optional uses for the 119 acres the airport sits on, the idea became an instant controversy. The mayor has maintained since then there’s no plan to close the airport. 

“This is just about a conversation of what the next 100 years for Albert Whitted looks like," he said.

Walt Digger's home away from home is the hangar he rents at the airport to store his plane. He’s the second in three generations of pilots in his family, and he says it all took off from Albert Whitted.

“It’s part of my life.” He said. “Let’s face it, I learned to fly here. My son got several of his certificates on Albert Whitted. He’s now a captain for PSA, which is American Eagle.”

So when he hears talks about looking at other options to replace this 94-year-old airport, it’s personal. But he said it’s also business. 

“More than half the 100,000 flights that the control tower handles a year are itinerants,” he said. Tto do business here, to vacation here, to visit family here. It’s bringing people to our state. It’s part of it.”

In 2003, the residence voted overwhelming, like to support a referendum to keep the airport.

“But is has been a long time since 2003,” Welch said. “This is 20 years later. St. Pete is much different now. And given sea level rise, Given our changed population, given the innovation district and what’s happening in that part of the city, it’s worth having a conversation and that’s my intent, to have a conversation about what the future of Albert Whitted should look like.”