Continuing Developments 1-3

Continuing Development No. 3 Waiting for the FAA to Change Its Mind What Decades of Airport-Land Decisions Suggest About the Future of the New College East Campus August 2026 More than two years have passed since the Federal Aviation Administration declined to approve the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority's request to release approximately thirty-one acres of Sarasota Bradenton International Airport property for sale to New College of Florida. The FAA issued its determination on April 10, 2024. The Airport Authority appealed. During subsequent discussions, however, the Authority came to understand that the FAA was unlikely to reverse its determination. The Authority withdrew its request rather than continue the appeal to another written rejection. The proposed sale did not occur. Since then, the political leadership of the federal government has changed. New College President Richard Corcoran has publicly expressed confidence that this change creates another opportunity. At a December 2025 Board of Trustees meeting, he described the FAA concerns raised during the previous federal administration as “specious” and said New College and the Airport Authority were essentially undertaking a “round two.” (Bradenton Herald) That possibility should not simply be dismissed. Federal executive-branch policies and practices have changed significantly since January 2025. The FAA can consider another proposal from the Airport Authority. A materially different proposal, supported by different facts, could receive a different response. But possibility is not probability. And possibility is a particularly dangerous foundation upon which to base a long-term campus master plan. The time has come for New College, the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, and the State of Florida to confront a possibility that has received remarkably little attention: The FAA may never approve the permanent transfer of this airport land to New College. Prudent planning requires more than hoping that it will.