Citizen Gave Faa Idea To Move Airport Flight Path From Boulder To Gilpin

A controversial push by federal aviation authorities to shift westbound flights out of Denver International Airport over Gilpin County appears to have come at the suggestion of one person looking to clear the skies above Boulder. In a recent supplemental report to a final environmental assessment of the Denver Metroplex Project obtained by The Denver Post, the Federal Aviation Administration wrote that during its community engagement process last year “a member of the public proposed the FAA move (a westbound flight path over Boulder) further south.” The result of that advice from the unnamed person: a planned “lateral shift” of all those planes 2 nautical miles to the south from their existing route “over the south/central City of Boulder,” according to the FAA document. Gilpin County Commissioner Gail Watson said the change places the flight path — dubbed ZIMMR SID — right over her sparsely populated but historically significant county, which formed 15 years before Colorado became a state. RELATED: Denver airport warns of development “creep” as Aurora gives blessing to new houses nearby “They took one person’s recommendation to move the flight path — why didn’t that trigger a conversation with the county that would impact?” Watson said Thursday. Residents of Gilpin County, she said, never got a meeting with the FAA as it rolled out the latest iteration of its Denver Metroplex Project, an initiative that strives to redesign airspace and address inefficiencies through new navigational technology and realigned flight paths.