Opponents of basing the Air Force's next-generation fighter jet in Burlington have a new trick up their sleeves: They want the state to compensate homeowners whose property could be devalued if the F-35 comes to town.
"I mean, you can't have it both ways," Rep. George Cross (D-Winooski) said at a Statehouse press conference Thursday morning, arguing that the plane's proponents should be ready to dish out the cash to anyone harmed by the basing.
"The point is if you are a legislator — if you are a Vermonter who supports the F-35 — then you must also support the notion that if you're wrong and, in fact, it is harmful and it has grave adverse impacts on people who live in the impacted zone, then in fact they deserve to be compensated in some fashion," Cross (pictured above) said.
In a bill he plans to introduce in the House next week, Cross proposes to create an "F-35 Adverse Impacts Compensation Board" that would be charged with "awarding compensation to property owners, landowners and other persons harmed or damaged by the noise and other adverse impacts" of the planes.