With a new private airport developing on its western flank, the city of Katy has named three representatives to regional safety boards assigned to make sure tall buildings and other hazards don't get built in the way.

Katy joins Waller County and Brookshire in naming representatives to oversee development near the 1,980-acre Houston Executive Airport, which opened in 2007. Fort Bend County and the city of Fulshear also will name representatives to the joint boards.

At their July 27 meeting, Katy council members appointed Southwest Airlines pilot John Garrett Nelson and insurance agent Otis M. "Mike" Sadler to two-year terms on the Joint Airport Safety Board. Investment adviser Donald P. Cox was named to the Joint Airport Board of Adjustment.

The newly appointed Katy representatives said the city has good reason to keep an eye on airport development.

"The airport is close enough to the city that any activity that goes on around there would be important to the economic development of the whole Katy area," Cox said.

Sadler agreed. "Katy is very interested in the development of the airport. Katy always has been growth-oriented, in a controlled way. I think (the airport) will be an integral part of the Katy area, and it could very well mean an economic boom for us."