21 of that year. SPARC accepted a compromise where in exchange for the construction of the exit and access road 1,700 acres (6.8 km2) of the remaining buffer lands would be added to the forest and restrictions would be imposed on development of the remaining 400 acres (1.6 km2) in the northeast corner of the properties, near the exit. In July 2006, the state formally transferred ownership of the state forest from DOT to DEC, ending the process of creating Stewart State Forest. Orange County was not thrilled with the state's decision to charge it $3.7 million for the area near the exit, saying that it was too much on top of the costs it would incur putting in infrastructure. DOT said it was just asking fair market value for the land. NEG Management NEG's marketing initiatives included several proposed new names for the airport to emphasize its proximity to the city. The last one, in 2006, which would have dropped the "Stewart" name entirely, met with local opposition and was ultimately dropped. Stewart has a limited selection of flights available and is relatively uncrowded most of the day. Some tenants have moved into nearby former military buildings, but most remain as unoccupied as they were the day the base was closed. It has drawn some passengers from western Connecticut who might otherwise have flown out of Hartford. But most of the fliers within Stewart's catchment area have continued to prefer Albany International Airport, Newark or other metropolitan airports. Delta pulled out of the airport shortly after the privatization announcement, ostensibly to better serve new routes it had won to Latin America, leaving it to codeshare partners Comair and ASA. Even one of the "tourist draws" for the airport evaporated in 2003 when the Concorde was retired. Its pilots had sometimes used the lengthy runway to practice touch-and-go landings. NEG's dealings with the state were not as harmonious as they were initially represented; documents made public by SPARC after the privatization was completed showed that there were many lingering issues between the two parties even at that time and that NEG had in fact considered breaking the deal at one point (as it would later ultimately do). The company has gone through some local management shuffles as well, and the parent corporation's sale of East Midlands, considered the example it would follow with Stewart, was a cause for concern in